United Nations peacekeepers said axe-wielding locals confronted them on Friday in south Lebanon, where residents accused the international force of opening fire after refusing to leave a town.
Andrea Tenenti, spokesman for the UN Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL), said that troops were confronted by a “large group of individuals” during a routine patrol near the town of Jmaijmeh.
The “unacceptable” incident caused damage to UN vehicles, Tenenti said, prompting peacekeepers to use “non-lethal force to ensure the safety of both the peacekeepers and those present”.
No injuries were reported among UN troops, but a statement from Jmaijmeh residents said that at least onw person was wounded in the violence.
The residents said they had asked UNIFIL peacekeepers to leave after they had entered the outskirts of the town without Lebanese army forces.
According to Tenenti, some of those involved were “wielding metal sticks and axes, resulting in damage to the vehicles”.
The residents’ statement accused the UN force of firing bullets and tear gas at them.
Teneti said that “the patrol was pre-planned and coordinated” with the Lebanese army, calling on the authorities to “ensure that UNIFIL peacekeepers can carry out their mandated tasks without threats or obstruction”.
Jmaijmeh is located near the Israeli border, in an area where UN forces and the Lebanese army are meant to oversee a November ceasefire between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.
Skirmishes occur occasionally between UNIFIL patrols and Hezbollah supporters, but they rarely escalate and are quickly contained by Lebanese authorities.
In December 2022, an Irish peacekeeper was killed in a shooting at a UN armoured vehicle in the south. Hezbollah surrendered a man accused of the crime to the army, but he was released around a year later.
UNIFIL has been deployed since 1978 to separate Lebanon and Israel.
On Monday, the peacekeeping force said that with its support, the Lebanese army had redeployed in vast areas of the south as stipulated in the November truce deal.
UNIFIL also said that its forces had uncovered more than 225 weapons caches in the south, for decades a Hezbollah stronghold.
The Lebanese army’s full deployment in the border area has faced “obstacles due to the presence of Israeli forces on Lebanese territory”, the UN force said, with Israel keeping troops in five locations despite the expiration of a February deadline for their withdrawal.
