UNIFIL accuses Israel of releasing “an unknown chemical substance” in areas of southern Lebanon

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) accused Israel this Monday of launching “an unknown chemical substance” in areas of southern Lebanon, a situation that forced the ‘blue helmets’ to “cancel more than a dozen activities” around the Blue Line, which marks the border between both countries.

Thus, he explained in a statement that the Israeli Army informed the mission on Sunday that “it would carry out an aerial activity with the launch of what they described as a non-toxic chemical substance over areas near the Blue Line”, before adding that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) indicated that “peacekeeping troops should stay away and remain under cover”, which caused the suspension of their activities.

“Peacekeeping troops were unable to carry out normal operations near the Blue Line along nearly a third of its length and were only able to resume normal activities more than nine hours later,” he said, while emphasizing that the ‘blue helmets’ “supported the Lebanese Armed Forces in collecting samples for toxicity testing.”

In this sense, he has stated that “this activity was unacceptable and contrary to resolution 1701” of the UN Security Council, approved after the conflict between Israel and the Shiite militia party Hezbollah in 2006 and pillar of the current ceasefire in force since November 2024, after thirteen months of fighting between both parties following the attacks of October 7, 2023.

“The IDF’s deliberate and planned actions not only limited the ability of peacekeepers to carry out their assigned activities, but also potentially put their health and that of civilians at risk,” UNIFIL said, also expressing concern about the possible impact of these chemicals on agricultural land and the return of civilians to their homes.

For this reason, he has emphasized that “this is not the first time that the IDF has dropped unknown chemical substances from aircraft over Lebanon” and has reminded the Israeli Army that “airplane flights to Lebanon constitute a violation of resolution 1701” and that “any activity that puts peacekeepers and civilians at risk is a cause for serious concern.”

“We again urge the IDF to end all these activities and collaborate with peacekeepers to support the stability that we all work to achieve,” UNIFIL concluded in its statement, without the Israeli Army having commented for now on this new incident.