UN peacekeepers say Israeli drone crashed into their headquarters without inflicting casualties
BEIRUT (AP) — An Israeli drone crashed into the headquarters of the U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon but didn't cause any casualties, the force said in a statement Wednesday.
The force, known as UNIFIL, said that by flying drones over Lebanon Israel was violating a U.N. Security Council resolution that helped end the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war. Resolution 1701, which was first approved in 2006 to end a previous round of fighting, calls for both sides to respect the other's airspace.
UNIFIL said that its explosive ordnance disposal experts secured and neutralized the drone immediately after it hit the headquarters in the Lebanese border town of Naqoura on Tuesday afternoon. UNIFIL added that the drone was not armed but was equipped with a camera.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
UNIFIL said the Israeli military “subsequently confirmed the drone belonged to them.”
The peacekeeping force said that while peacekeepers are prepared to take action against threats to their safety, “this device fell on its own.”
The incident came two weeks after UNIFIL said Israeli drones dropped four grenades close to peacekeepers in southern Lebanon near the border with Israel as they were working to clear roadblocks. No one was hurt in the strike.
The most recent Israel-Hezbollah war killed more than 4,000 people in Lebanon, including hundreds of civilians, and caused an estimated $11 billion worth of destruction, according to the World Bank. In Israel, 127 people died, including 80 soldiers.
The war started when Hezbollah began firing rockets across the border on Oct. 8, 2023, a day after a deadly Hamas-led incursion into southern Israel sparked the war in Gaza. Israel responded with shelling and airstrikes in Lebanon, and the two sides became locked in an escalating conflict that became a full-blown war in late September 2024.
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