The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said that three peacekeepers were injured in an explosion that occurred inside a United Nations facility near Al-Adisseh on Friday afternoon, and they were taken to hospital.Two were seriously injured.The United Nations Information Center in Jakarta said that the “origin of the explosion” was unknown, but it identified the injured soldiers as Indonesians.“Repeated attacks or incidents of this kind are unacceptable,” the Indonesian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.“Regardless of their causes, these events underscore the urgent need to strengthen the protection of UN peacekeepers amid an increasingly dangerous conflict situation.”The government urged the UN Security Council to investigate the events and “immediately call a meeting of troop-contributing countries to UNIFIL to conduct a review and take measures to enhance the protection of personnel serving in UNIFIL.”
Friday’s incident comes just days after an Indonesian peacekeeper died when a shell exploded on March 29 in southern Lebanon, where Israel and Hezbollah have been fighting since Lebanon was dragged into the Middle East war.A UN security source told AFP, requesting anonymity, on Tuesday that Israeli tank fire was responsible for this attack.A day later, two other Indonesian peacekeepers were killed after an explosion struck a UNIFIL logistics convoy, also in southern Lebanon. The bodies of the three men arrived in Jakarta on Saturday.
“They were not deployed for war”
The soldiers’ coffins, wrapped in the Indonesian flag, were carried to a hall at the international airport on the shoulders of uniformed comrades in a ceremony attended by President Prabowo Subianto.The men’s family members wept over the coffins, each of which had a picture of the dead soldier in a gold frame in front of it.Prabowo greeted each photo and held the hands of their grieving loved ones, some of whom were crying inconsolably.The father of one of the dead soldiers, Zulmi Aditya Iskandar, 33, said this week that he was shocked that peacekeepers were losing their lives in the conflict.“We felt really sad and sorry, because these are UN forces, they are peacekeeping forces, and they are not deployed for war,” 60-year-old Iskandaruddin told reporters at his home in West Java province.The army promised to provide financial support to the bereaved families.After the latest attack, which resulted in the injury of three other soldiers, the Armed Forces Commander, General Agus Subianto, ordered Indonesian peacekeepers in Lebanon to enter bunkers and refrain from activities outside.The Indonesian National Armed Forces said it will deploy more than 750 personnel to Lebanon next month as part of a scheduled rotation of UNIFIL peacekeepers.
