UNIFIL reminds that it has the right to defend itself but reiterates its neutral position

The United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon (UNIFIL) recalled this Friday that it is capable of defending itself from attacks such as those carried out by Israel in recent days against its positions but insists that its absolute priority is to maintain neutrality to try to defuse the prevailing tension on the border.

UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti has observed in this regard that the option of defending against any attack is included in the prerogatives of Chapter 6 of the United Nations Charter — dedicated to the mandate of international peacekeepers — but ” We have to be very pragmatic about how to use it, and when” because the peace mission “does not want to be part of the conflict and the use of force could trigger more violence.”

“Here we are trying to ease the tension, and the decision about when the time has come to defend ourselves falls to the field commanders,” said Tenenti, spokesman for a peace mission that has been under the range of Israeli gunfire and other offensives for days. They have left at least five people injured and, this past weekend, more than a dozen people poisoned by smoke from Israeli projectiles.

Speaking from Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, Tenenti described a general worsening of the situation on the border since the beginning of the Israeli invasion in the south of the country against Hezbollah militias, which has caught UNIFIL in the middle. of the fighting.

“The daily bombings are increasingly worse in the vicinity of the border and UNIFIL sectors, which constitutes a violation of Lebanese sovereignty of UN Security Council resolution 1701” that regulates the presence of the force. of peace, Tenenti added.

“We have to stay here,” the spokesman insisted on Israel’s requests for them to abandon their posts in southern Lebanon and along the Blue Line that delimits both countries. “There,” Tenenti indicated, “most of the towns have been damaged or completely destroyed.”

Finally, Tenenti has defended the work of UNIFIL during an incident that occurred on Thursday, when the crew of one of its ships had to shoot down an unmanned aircraft, of still unknown origin, that was approaching the ship in front of its UNIFIL headquarters. population of Naqoura.

“The drone that came from the south was circling the ship and stayed very, very close to it, a few meters away,” Tenenti explained.