UNSC voices 'concern' for peacekeeping forces

Urges all parties to respect the safety and security of UNIFIL personnel, UN premises

The UN Security Council expressed "strong concern" on Monday after several peace-keeping positions in southern Lebanon came under fire during clashes between the Israeli military and Iran-backed Hezbollah. More than 20 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a Christian town in northern Lebanon. The Hezbollah retaliated by firing rockets at Tel Aviv. Israel's attacks on the positions of the peacekeeping force, known as UNIFIL, began last week, drawing international condemnation. As Israel's multi-front war continues to escalate, the UNSC reiterated its support for security in the region.

UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix told reporters in New York that Secretary-General António Guterres confirmed on Monday that peacekeepers would remain in all their positions even as Israel has urged the peacekeepers to move 5 kilometers north during its ground invasion in Lebanon. The Security Council statement, issued after an emergency closed-door consultations on Lebanon, did not name either Israel, Lebanon or Hezbollah. Read by Swiss UN Ambassador Pascale Baeriswyl, the council's current president, it urges all parties "to respect the safety and security of UNIFIL personnel and UN premises".