Cyprus one of 16 EU countries condemning Israel’s attacks against UN peacekeepers
The 16 European Union countries participating in the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon (UNIFIL) believe that the rules of engagement need to be made more effective, the Italian defence ministry said in a statement.
European countries also believe that pressure should be applied to prevent further attacks on peacekeeper positions by Israeli forces, the ministry said. The statement noted that a key element that emerged from today’s meeting of the 16 countries on this issue was “their common will to exert maximum political and diplomatic pressure on Israel to prevent further incidents.”
Italy also added that “Hezbollah cannot use UNIFIL personnel as shields” in this conflict with Israel.
For its part, the French Ministry of Defence assured that the 16 countries “will remain committed” to UNIFIL, which “plays a key role in the context of the mandate entrusted to it by the United Nations Security Council as an impartial observer force”.
The video conference was organised at the initiative of the Italian and French Defence Ministers, Guido Crozeto and Sebastian Lecorni, after five peacekeepers from Indonesia and Sri Lanka were wounded in Israeli army operations in southern Lebanon. The ministers or their representatives from the European countries participating in UNIFIL participated.
According to the French ministry of defence, the ministers expressed their deep concern about the recent escalation along the Blue Line and condemned “acts of intimidation, threats and attacks” against the peacekeepers.
“We will not tolerate UN soldiers being targeted or instrumentalised in a conflict that must stop now,” the ministry said, calling for UN Security Council Resolution 1701 to be “strictly” implemented. That resolution stipulates that only the Lebanese army and the cyanocracies can deploy forces in southern Lebanon.
Paris also stressed that Lebanon’s territorial integrity and national sovereignty must also be “restored and respected”.