The United Nations and France have condemned Israeli fire near UN peacekeeping troops in southern Lebanon, after a weekend incident during which peacekeepers neutralised an Israeli reconnaissance drone.
"We are very concerned about the incident that occurred on Sunday in which an Israeli drone dropped a grenade in the vicinity of a UNIFIL patrol, and subsequently an Israeli tank fired a shot at the peacekeepers in Kfar Kila in the UNIFIL area of operations," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Monday, referring to the incident in southern Lebanon.
"Our colleagues at UNIFIL are in touch with the IDF to protest vehemently what has happened. It's not the first time that we feel we've been targeted in different ways by the IDF (including) pointing lasers or warning shots. It's very, very dangerous," he said.
The UN peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL works with the Lebanese army to enforce the ceasefire agreement that ended more than a year of conflict between Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah and Israel.
According to a French diplomatic source, the UNIFIL troops involved in Sunday's incident were French.
"France condemns the Israeli fire that targeted a UNIFIL detachment on October 26, 2025," the French foreign ministry said in a separate statement.
It said that "these incidents follow those observed on October 1, 2, and 11, when the Israeli army had already targeted UNIFIL positions."
Drone activity
On Sunday, UNIFIL said an Israeli drone flew over its patrol in an "aggressive manner".
"The peacekeepers applied necessary defensive countermeasures to neutralise the drone," it said in a statement.
The incident "shows disregard for safety and security of the peacekeepers implementing Security Council mandated tasks in southern Lebanon", it said.
UNIFIL later said another Israeli drone came close to its patrol operating near Kfar Kila and dropped a grenade.
"Moments later, an Israeli tank fired a shot towards the peacekeepers. Fortunately, no injury or damage was caused to the UNIFIL peacekeepers and assets," the statement added.
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The Israeli army still occupies five positions in southern Lebanon, along the border with northern Israel, and despite the ceasefire continues to carry out strikes on Lebanese territory, claiming to target Hezbollah.
Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said on X earlier on Monday that "an intelligence-gathering drone was downed in the area of Kfar Kila."
"An initial inquiry suggests that UNIFIL forces stationed nearby deliberately fired at the drone and downed it. The drone's activity did not pose a threat to UNIFIL forces," Shoshani wrote.
Ceasefire deal
As part of last year's ceasefire deal, Israeli troops were to withdraw from southern Lebanon and Hezbollah was to pull back north of the Litani River and dismantle any military infrastructure in the south.
According to the agreement, only the Lebanese army and UNIFIL are to be deployed in the south of the country.
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Under US pressure and fearing an escalation of Israeli strikes, the Lebanese government has moved to begin disarming Hezbollah, a plan the movement and its allies oppose.
Despite the terms of the truce, Israel has kept troops deployed in five border points it deems strategic.
Israel has also intensified strikes in recent weeks, with several deadly attacks launched over the past few days.
(with AFP)
