A French soldier was killed and three others were wounded in an ambush on Saturday on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon, which French President Emmanuel Macron blamed on Hezbollah, an accusation the group denies.The attack comes after an agreement between Israel and Lebanon on Thursday for a 10-day ceasefire to negotiate an end to six weeks of fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed group.“Everything points to Hezbollah’s responsibility for this attack,” Macron said on Channel X, urging Lebanese authorities to arrest the perpetrators.UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the attack in a statement and said that the initial assessment of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) concluded that the Iranian-backed group carried out the attack.But Hezbollah – which strongly opposes the planned talks with Israel – denied involvement in the attack that led to the death of the French peacekeeper, identified as Sergeant Florian Montorio.A statement said, “Hezbollah denies any connection to the incident that occurred with UNIFIL forces in the Ghandouriyah-Bint Jbeil area.”The group called for “caution in issuing judgments and assigning responsibilities” pending the results of the Lebanese Army’s investigation into the incident.
The fighting in Lebanon, one of the fronts of the Middle East war, saw UNIFIL forces deployed there and repeatedly targeted by Israeli and Hezbollah forces.French Armed Forces Minister Catherine Vautrin said that Montorio was caught in an “ambush” while his unit was heading to an advanced location of UNIFIL forces isolated by the fighting, and died as a result of a “direct gunshot.”He is the second French soldier to die since the beginning of the war in the Middle East, after an Iranian-designed drone killed Arnaud Frion last month in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. – Possible ‘war crimes’ –Its commander, Colonel Jeremy Akil, praised the “exceptional soldier” who has served in various conflict zones since his recruitment in 2007. Aqeel added that the 40-year-old father of two daughters was “at the end of his military career” and was scheduled to return to civilian life within months.His death came as Lebanon looked forward to its first direct negotiations with Israel in decades, a move that Lebanese President Joseph Aoun insisted was not a “concession” in an apparent response to Hezbollah’s criticism.But senior Hezbollah official Mahmoud Qamati said on Saturday that his group is “not interested in the negotiations conducted by the state,” considering that they are “failed, weak, and defeated negotiations… and submissive negotiations.”Aoun condemned the attack and pledged to bring those responsible to justice, while Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said he had ordered an investigation.In an online statement, UNIFIL said the peacekeepers “came under small arms fire from non-state actors” while they were “clearing explosive ordnance along a road in the village of Ghandouriya” to reach the settlement site.“Tragically, one peacekeeper died of his wounds and three others were injured, two of them in serious condition,” she said, adding that she had begun her own investigations into what “may amount to war crimes.”The force is patrolling southern Lebanon near the Israeli border, where Israel and Hezbollah have been fighting since last month after the Iran-backed militant group dragged Lebanon into the Middle East war by firing missiles at Israel in support of Iran.Three Indonesian peacekeepers were killed last month, and a preliminary UN investigation concluded that one of them was killed by Israeli tank fire, while the other two were killed by an explosive device most likely planted by Hezbollah.UNIFIL peacekeepers said other UNIFIL peacekeepers had also been injured since the outbreak of war, and in April, Israeli soldiers destroyed surveillance cameras at UNIFIL headquarters.Last week, an Israeli tank rammed peacekeeping vehicles twice, causing damage but no casualties, according to UNIFIL.UN peacekeeping forces have served as a buffer between Lebanon and Israel for decades, but their mission ends at the end of this year.
