Two Indonesian soldiers attached to the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon were killed by an exploding “projectile” in the country’s south, the UN announced on Monday.
The projectile was said to be of unknown origin and injured two others when it exploded at a Unifil (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) position near the southern Lebanese village of Adchit al-Qusayr on Sunday.
Unifil was established by the UN Security Council in 1978 to monitor hostilities along the demarcation line – or “Blue Line” – between Israel, Lebanon, and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights; now the centre of clashes between the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and Tehran-backed Hezbollah fighters.
“We do not know the origin of the projectile. We have launched an investigation to determine all of the circumstances,” Unifil said.
“Once again, we call on all actors to uphold their obligations under international law and to ensure the safety and security of UN personnel and property at all times, including by refraining from actions that may put peacekeepers in danger,” Unifil said. “No one should ever lose their life serving the cause of peace.”
Also on Sunday, a Polish soldier sustained minor injuries after a roadside device detonated as an Irish-Polish Unifil unit passed it on patrol.
The peacekeeper was evacuated by armoured ambulance. It is unclear who detonated the explosives.
On 6 March, the headquarters of a Ghanaian Unifil detachment was attacked by Israeli tank fire, critically injuring two soldiers.
The IDF acknowledged the strikes as being launched by their forces, saying they were responding to anti-tank fire from Hezbollah, which had moderately injured two Israeli troops.
Unifil is scheduled to begin their withdrawal from Lebanon on 31 December 2026, after Israeli and US pressure on the UN Security Council to wind up the mission.
Tel Aviv has long accused the mission of failing to disarm Hezbollah – despite them never being tasked to do so – and providing it with political cover since its 2006 war with Israel.
Under President Donald Trump, the US has come to regard Unifil as a financial burden and has increasingly echoed Israel’s objections.
It is comprised of 10,500 peacekeepers from 47 countries and can only use force in self-defence or to protect civilians under fire.
Lebanon was drawn into the ongoing conflict across the Middle East on 2 March, when Hezbollah launched missiles towards Israel two days after the US and Israel attacked Iran and killed its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The IDF is currently involved in intense clashes with Hezbollah forces in more than a dozen villages in southern Lebanon as they attempt to push north towards the Litani river.
Israel’s defense minister Israel Katz said residents and homes in “contact-line villages” would be destroyed “in accordance with the model of Beit Hanun and Rafah in Gaza”.
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