The incident, reported by Israeli broadcaster KAN, has not elicited immediate responses from either the UAE or Israeli foreign ministries.
This development underscores growing tensions and the fragile nature of regional relations as the situation continues to unfold.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong on Tuesday criticized Israel, saying the Netanyahu government is isolating Israel after it revoked visas for Canberra’s diplomatic representatives to the Palestinian Authority.
The move came a day after Australia denied entry to far-right Israeli politician Simcha Rothman and former Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked. The visa denials followed Canberra’s announcement that it plans to formally recognize a Palestinian state next month.
Amos Hochstein, who was a senior official focused on the Middle East during the Biden administration, described a pattern of Israeli leaders presenting headstrong views on security and using the U.S. as a scapegoat to rein them in with hawkish security officials and hard-line political partners.
“I’ll say something a bit controversial, but in my mind, since Ronald Reagan, Israel doesn’t have a stop button,” Hochstein said on the “Unholy: Two Jews on the News” podcast June 19.
“Every prime minister, right-wing, left-wing centrist goes to his, whoever it is at the time, the military, the intelligence, his, you know, extremist parties and says, ‘I’m with you, but these darn Americans are forcing me to stop.’ And they’re like, all right, fine, we’ll stop and we’ll do a deal. And that’s been the case in every operation since the 1980s.”
The reported incident occurred on 13 October, when the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) said two Israeli Merkava tanks broke through the gates of one of its bases. The tanks left after 45 minutes, following complaints from Unifil.
The Financial Times does not specify in its report where the incident took place, but on that same day, two tanks were reported to have hit the post of a Unifil base in Ramya, a town in southern Lebanon. Unifil said its peacekeepers were being treated for skin irritation and gastrointestinal reactions.
Within the next hour after the tanks left, several rounds were fired 100 metres north of the Unifil base, and the rounds emitted a „smoke of suspected white phosphorous“ that ultimately injured 15 peacekeepers.
Ein Sprecher des nordkoreanischen Verteidigungsministeriums teilte am Montag über die staatliche Nachrichtenagentur KCNA mit, dass die schwerwiegende Verletzung der Souveränität durch die südkoreanischen Militärbanditen durch eindeutige Beweise und wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen bestätigt worden sei.
Bei der Drohne handle es sich um ein kleines Langstrecken-Aufklärungsmodell, das von der Drohnenoperationseinheit der südkoreanischen Armee stamme.
Das Aussendepartement hat den israelischen Vorstoss in einen UN-Stützpunkt verurteilt.
Zuvor hatten israelische Panzer das Tor zu einer Unifil-Einrichtung durchbrochen, über ein Dutzend Blauhelme wurden verletzt.
Auch der Papst hat dazu aufgerufen, die «Friedenstruppen zu respektieren».
(Issued on: 13/10/2024 – 22:57)
„In a deeply worrying incident that occurred today, the entrance door of a UN position was deliberately breached by IDF armored vehicles,“ he added in a statement.
At least five peacekeepers have been wounded in recent days as Israel targets Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
According to the Mission, at about 04:30 (local time), while peacekeepers were in shelters, two IDF Merkava tanks destroyed the main gate and entered the position.
“They requested multiple times that the base turn out its lights,” UNIFIL said in a statement.
The tanks left about 45 minutes later after the Mission protested through its liaison mechanism, saying that IDF presence was putting peacekeepers in danger.
At around 06:40, peacekeepers at the same position reported the firing of several rounds 100 metres (about 110 yards) north, which emitted smoke.
“Despite putting on protective masks, fifteen peacekeepers suffered effects, including skin irritation and gastrointestinal reactions, after the smoke entered the camp,” UNIFIL reported.
The affected peacekeepers are receiving treatment.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday called on the United Nations to immediately pull its peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon from areas where Israel is battling Hezbollah, saying that the terror group is using the international troops as “human shields.”
Netanyahu’s comments came as the UN peacekeeping force said two Israel Defense Forces tanks had entered a United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon position Sunday.
The Permanent Mission of the Republic of Poland before the United Nations promoted a proposal, signed by 40 countries who provide funds and troops to the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon (UNIFIL), to condemn the recent attacks of of Israel against its base in Naqoura (in the south of the country) and five peacekeepers were injured in just three days. “We call for respecting the UN mission and guaranteeing the safety of people,” dictates his message published on the social network X.
The 40 contributing countries „reaffirm our full support for UNIFIL‘s mission and activities, whose principal aim is to bring stabilization and lasting peace in South Lebanon as well as in the Middle East,“ the statement read.
„We urge the parties of the conflict to respect UNIFIL‘s presence, which entails the obligation to guarantee the safety and security of its personnel at all times,“ it added.
UNIFIL, which involves about 9,500 troops of some 50 nationalities, is tasked with monitoring a ceasefire that ended a 33-day war in 2006 between Israel and Hezbollah.
(October 11, 20248:29 PM GMT+2Updated a day ago)
The leaders of France, Italy and Spain on Friday condemned the recent targeting of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, by the Israel Defence Forces and said such attacks were „unjustifiable“ and should „immediately come to an end.“
Netanyahu has issued statements essentially calling for regime change in both Lebanon and Iran, while Israel’s boosters in the United States see in its expanding wars an opportunity to “remake” the political map of the Middle East.
The two countries, which supply large amounts of troops to the U.N. peacekeeping mission in south Lebanon known as UNIFIL, summoned Israel‘s ambassadors to their respective capitals in response to incidents in which four peacekeepers were injured, one of whom required hospitalization. No French or Italian troops were wounded.
France‘s Ministry for Foreign Affairs condemned the „deliberate“ attack on Friday, which it said constitutes a „serious violation of international law.“
National Unity chairman Benny Gantz said during a press conference in Sderot on Wednesday that Hamas was militarily defeated following the IDF‘s operation in Gaza.
„From a military point of view – Hamas is defeated. Its fighters are eliminated or in hiding. Its abilities are cut off, and we will continue to strike what remains.
However, “from a military point of view – Hamas is defeated. Its fighters are eliminated or in hiding” and its capabilities “crippled,” he continues, stating that “victory will come step by step” and that Israel “will not stop. We will enter Rafah. We will return to Khan Younis. And we will operate in Gaza. Wherever there are terrorist targets – the IDF will be there.”
(today)
And therefore, as was the case when he insisted on continuing to run the country while in the midst of a corruption trial, and as was the case when he pressed on with his assault on Israeli democracy and briefly fired that defense minister, so too, now, it falls to a potential few good men and women within his own coalition base to tell him that his presence is harming Israel, that his policies empowered and emboldened Hamas, and that far from being uniquely capable of ensuring Israel has the practical and diplomatic room to destroy Hamas, he is almost uniquely incapable of doing so.
(09.04.2024)
Israel must destroy Hamas as a military and political force in the territory while minimizing harm to civilians. It must do what it can to rescue its hostages without jeopardizing the overriding goal of destroying Hamas. It must, by diplomacy or force, push Hezbollah back from Lebanon’s southern border, so that 60,000 Israelis can return safely to their homes in the north. It must take the battle directly, as it did last week in Damascus, to Hamas’s and Hezbollah’s patrons, whether in Syria, Qatar or Iran.
And for all of that to happen effectively, Benjamin Netanyahu must go.
„It‘s very, very important,“ Ziv said of U.S. military aid to Israel. Placing conditions on it, he said, „creates a dangerous precedent for Israel because it just wasn‘t in the cards up until now.“ (…)
The U.S. could continue to abstain or even support United Nations resolutions that Israel finds unfavorable, as it did this week.
(27.03.2024)
It‘s a sharp reversal by Netanyahu who on Monday canceled the same trip by the same people in protest over the U.S. not vetoing a UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages held by Hamas.
The fallout over the canceled trip and a deadlock in hostage talks added to already spiraling relations between Netanyahu and the Biden administration.
Asked by the Barents Observer, the Joint Headquarters near Bodø, however, confirms that the planes were inside Norwegian airspace before flying out over international airspace in the Barents Sea.
“The activity included both Norwegian and international airspace,” says spokesperson Reidar Flasnes.
“We cannot detail the activity,” Flasnes says and points to the United States as in charge of Sunday’s flights. He adds that the flights are “approved by Norway’s Ministry of Defense.”
„On March 24, 2024, Russian airspace control capabilities spotted an aerial target over the Barents Sea approaching the state border of the Russian Federation. A MiG-31 fighter jet from air defense quick reaction alert forces was scrambled to identify the aerial target and prevent it from violating Russia’s state border,“ the ministry said. „The fighter’s crew identified the aerial targets as a pair of B-1B strategic bombers of the US Air Force, it said.
The Polish Armed Forces reported a violation of the country‘s airspace on the border with Ukraine early in the morning of March 24 and claim that it is a Russian cruise missile. No evidence was provided for these statements.
„On March 24 at 4:23 a.m. (0323 GMT), there was a violation of Polish airspace by one of the cruise missiles launched overnight by long-range aviation of the Russian Federation,“ the armed forces said on the social media platform X.
„The object entered Polish space near the town of Oserdow (Lublin Voivodeship) and stayed there for 39 seconds. During the entire flight, it was observed by military radar systems.“
Despite more than a week passing since the unexpected Iranian attack, with its timing, circumstances, and justifications, Iranian officials persist in claiming that the long-range missiles launched at civilian areas in Erbil were targeting „Mossad sites.“ However, Tehran has not provided any evidence or arguments to support this claim to either the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) or the Iraqi government.
The „escaping forward“ policy pursued by Iranian officials regarding the attack on Erbil amounts to an implicit admission of the invalidity of their justifications and the failure of the missile aggression itself.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, today begins a tour of the Middle East that will first take him to Lebanon, then to Iraq, where he will hold meetings at the highest level with the aim of boosting the chances of achieving a regional de-escalation that will result in greater stability in the area.
The dual rebukes of Iran and the US underscore the tightrope Baghdad is walking as the war in Gaza seeps out beyond the besieged Mediterranean enclave’s borders.
Across the region, Tehran and Washington are flexing their muscles, vying to outflank each other in a deadly proxy war. The shadowy conflict has taken on different flavours that reflect local and geopolitical realities.
„While positive steps have been taken to reshape the future relationship and missions of the Coalition members and advisors in Iraq, the recent actions are hindering this progress, undermining agreements and various sectors of joint security cooperation,“ Rasool said.
„This unacceptable act undermines years of cooperation, blatantly violates Iraq‘s sovereignty, and contributes to an irresponsible escalation.“
Maj. Gen. Rasool said the strikes came at a time when the region is already grappling with the „danger of expanding conflict, the repercussions of the aggression on Gaza, and the consequences of the immoral war of extermination faced by the Palestinian people.“
(20.01.2024)
The Iranian missile attacks last Monday night on Iraqi territory in Erbil, Kurdistan Region (KRI), were deemed by the Iraqi government as „an act of aggression“ and a dangerous development undermining the strong relation between Iraq and its eastern neighbor. The Iraqi government affirmed its right to respond at an appropriate time. Political analysts see the Iraqi response as unusual, entering a diplomatic crisis with Iran for the first time since 2003.
Troops will be part of Operation Inherent Resolve, a U.S. military campaign against Daesh from Iraq and Libya to Syria. Last year alone, the U.S. sent more than 3,000 soldiers to Syria and Iraq for the campaign. The website Axios reported that U.S. military presence in the region reached about 45,400 as of October 2023 and most are stationed in Kuwait.
(14.01.2024)
Soldiers from New Jersey are joining the fight against an Islamic militant group in the Middle East. This will be the largest deployment of New Jersey Army National Guard soldiers since 2008.
Lt. Col. Omar Minott is among 1,500 New Jersey Army National Guard soldiers deploying to Iraq and Syria. This is his fifth deployment to the Middle East, he said.
His deployment is part of Operation Inherent Resolve, a military campaign to defeat ISIS.