Lebanon on Monday pledged, through its caretaker Defense Minister, Maurice Sleem, to punish “everyone responsible” for last Wednesday’s fatal shooting of an Irish soldier.
The convoy of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) came under fire near the village of al-Aaqbiya late Wednesday, also wounding three other peacekeepers.
“Investigations into the incident are ongoing, and the security services are aptly performing their role,” Sleem said while he visited the headquarters of the Irish UNIFIL battalion in the southern Lebanese town of Al-Tiri, to offer condolences.
“We hope that investigations will end by determining who is responsible for the killing of the Irish peacekeeper and the wounding of three others to be held accountable,” he affirmed, adding that that “everyone involved in this act will be punished.”
In parallel, Hezbollah spoke for the first time about a Lebanese man who was injured in al-Aaqbiya accident.
The Party’s MP Hajj Hussein Jishi said the man was hit by a car before the shooting on the UNIFIL convoy.
Jishi denounced the Lebanese statements condemning the killing of the Irish soldier, and said: “They should know that the investigation into this incident has not yet ended, and there is a Lebanese citizen who was run over by a UNIFIL car and taken to the hospital.”
The Hezbollah deputy then asked, “Has anyone asked about him? Or a Lebanese citizen is of no value to them?”
He also noted that the run-over operation took place before the shooting on the UNIFIL convoy.
Meanwhile, the body of Private Sean Rooney, the Irish United Nations peacekeeper killed in Lebanon, was returned to Dublin with full military honors, AFP reported.
The body arrived at Casement Aerodrome, Baldonnel, on the outskirts of Dublin on Monday morning ahead of being reunited with his family.
An autopsy is scheduled before the soldier’s body is handed over to his family.
