On eve of Oct. 7 anniversary, Israel strikes Gaza Strip and Lebanon

The Israeli military established new positions beside a United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon during its invasion of the country’s southern region last week, according to two U.N. spokespeople and satellite imagery obtained by The New York Times.

Andrea Tenenti, a spokesperson for the mission — commonly known by its acronym, UNIFIL — said the Israeli military had been firing at Hezbollah positions from those locations, putting the peacekeepers increasingly in the crossfire.

Tenenti said the Israeli military had asked UNIFIL to relocate its personnel as it was invading southern Lebanon, but the U.N. mission declined to do so.

“We were notified by the IDF of a limited incursion,” he said, referring to the Israel Defense Forces. “We are still here, we have not moved.”

Satellite images taken Saturday by Planet Labs, a commercial satellite company, and obtained by the Times show about 20 Israeli military vehicles at three new positions established this past week around the U.N. mission. The Times is withholding the imagery for security reasons.

The pictures showed what appeared to be new berms constructed around the Israeli positions, one of which is approximately 60 yards from the U.N. base. A fourth Israeli position was set up one-third of a mile from the U.N. base, the satellite images showed.The Israeli military presence near the base was first reported by the Irish national broadcaster, RTÉ. The base is manned by Irish and Polish peacekeeping troops.

“This is a concern for the mission and is something that’s being discussed right now with the IDF and at U.N. headquarters,” Tenenti said.

“This is an extremely dangerous development,” said Nick Birnback, the spokesperson in New York for the U.N.’s peacekeeping operations. “It is unacceptable to compromise the safety of U.N. peacekeepers carrying out their Security Council-mandated tasks.” On Friday, Birnback said, the United Nations had made a formal notification about its concerns to Israel’s permanent mission in New York.

An Israeli military official who spoke on condition of anonymity given the sensitive military and political context confirmed the IDF’s presence near the UNIFIL base.

Asked why it established military positions beside the U.N. base and not farther away, the official said it was because the position offered convenient roads and other infrastructure, and because Hezbollah was launching rockets from next to the peacekeeping base with impunity.

“We understand that weapons are in the area,” Tenenti said of nearby Hezbollah rocket sites. “But at this point, we need to find viable solutions. Our priority is to go back to a cessation of hostilities. The conflict could stop if there is a commitment from both parties.”

The Israeli military official said he did not know if the IDF planned to move its position, but the goal was not to stay near the U.N. base indefinitely.

Israel is conducting a multipronged invasion of southern Lebanon from two areas in northern Israel as it scales up attacks on Hezbollah in an effort to stop its cross-border rocket launches and enable the return of 60,000 Israelis to their homes in the north of Israel.

UNIFIL was first established to observe Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon in the late 1970s and maintain the peace along the de facto border. Since the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, the peacekeeping mission has monitored and reported on violations of the cross-border truce.

“Before October 2023, the south of Lebanon had the most stable period since 2006,” Tenenti said.

He added that most of UNIFIL’s personnel — who number about 10,000 — are based in about 29 positions across southern Lebanon and have been unable to move since the invasion.”The whole situation has affected our ability to operate,” he said.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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