UNIFIL reports two more ‘blue helmets’ killed in bombing in southern Lebanon

Two soldiers from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) died this Monday due to the impact of a projectile against the vehicle in which they were traveling near Bahi Hayan, in the Marjayun district, in southern Lebanon. On Sunday another ‘blue helmet’ of Indonesian nationality died in another attack of unknown origin.

“Two UNIFIL ‘blue helmets’ died tragically today in southern Lebanon when an explosion of unknown origin destroyed their vehicle near Bani Hayan,” the UN mission said in a statement. Two more soldiers have been injured, one of them seriously.

UNIFIL has announced the opening of an investigation and recalls that it is the second “fatal incident in the last 24 hours.” “We reiterate that no one should ever die in the service of the cause of peace,” he stressed before expressing his condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of the “brave ‘blue helmets’ who have given their lives in the service of peace.”

“The human cost of this conflict is too high. The violence, as we have said before, must end,” UNIFIL stressed in its statement.

An Indonesian soldier died this Sunday due to the explosion of a projectile that also seriously injured another member of the peacekeepers in one of their positions in the Marjayun district, Nabatiye governorate, in southern Lebanon.

Both Hezbollah militias and the Israeli Armed Forces operate in the area, which have declared their intention to take Lebanese territory up to the Litani River to establish a security zone. Israeli forces have carried out several incidents and harassment against UN forces.

UNIFIL is an international contingent of some 8,000 soldiers dedicated to monitoring the cessation of hostilities between the Shiite party-militia Hezbollah and the Israeli Army and to accompanying and assisting the Lebanese Armed Forces in the south of the country and along the separation between the two countries, called the Blue Line. Some 650 Spanish soldiers participate in UNIFIL.