Four UN peacekeepers injured by rocket fire in Lebanon

Also on Tuesday, a Unifil patrol was fired at while the group passed through a road northeast of the village of Khirbat Silim, with no injuries reported.

In a statement posted to social media, Unifil condemned the attacks on its people and infrastructure.

“The pattern of regular attacks – direct or indirect – against peacekeepers must end immediately,” the statement said.

“Any attack against the peacekeepers is a flagrant violation of international laws and resolution 1701, which forms the basis of Unifil’s current mandate.”

Under UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, the UN was meant to create an area in the south free of armed forces other than those of the Lebanese army.

However Israel accuses Unifil of having turned a blind eye to the growth of Hezbollah, which now outpowers the official Lebanese army. Hezbollah is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Israel, the UK, US and other countries.

Tensions between Israel and the UN over its peacekeeping operations in southern Lebanon have escalated in recent months, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling for the forces to pull out of “combat areas”.

A Unifil spokesman in Geneva said UN peacekeepers were seeing increased levels of violence, with “huge, shocking” destruction across the blue line – the UN-recognised boundary that separates Israel and Lebanon.