Borrell meets UNIFIL chief in Beirut, says peacekeepers have ‘strong support’ of EU

The EU Foreign Policy chief Josep Borrell has said UN peacekeepers stationed in southern Lebanon have the “strong support” of the bloc after meeting their commander in Beirut.

Borrell held talks with UNFIL’s Head of Mission and Force Commander Lieutenant General Aroldo Lázaro during his visit to the Lebanese capital on Sunday.

That meeting comes days after four Italian soldiers were injured after two rockets exploded at a UNIFIL base in Shama, apparently fired by Hezbollah or one of its affiliate groups.

“The attacks against UNIFIL are completely unacceptable,” Borrell said in a statement after his meeting with Lázaro.

“UNIFIL is playing a key role in an increasingly challenging environment. There are over 10,000 men and women deployed in the south. Thirty of them have been injured.”

Several UNIFIL posts have been hit since Israel began its ground invasion of Lebanon on 1 October, leaving some peacekeepers wounded.

Borrell also expressed his support for the UN aid agency for Palestinian refugees, saying it plays an “irreplaceable role in Gaza, but also here in Lebanon.”

“The services that UNRWA provides to half a million of Palestinian refugees cannot be supplied by anyone else. And we condemn the law passed by the Israeli Knesset, and we continue urging the Israeli government not to implement this decision.”

That was a reference to bills passed by the Israeli parliament at the end of October prohibiting UNRWA from operating within Israeli territory.

Israel has long been at odds with UNRWA, accusing it of turning a blind eye to Hamas members among its staff and of allowing the militant group to use its buildings as bases.

UNRWA has repeatedly denied those allegations.

Prior to meeting the UNIFIL commander, Borrell said the EU is ready to allocate €200 million to assist the Lebanese military deploy additional troops to the country’s south. 

Borrell called for more pressure on both Israel and Hezbollah to reach a ceasefire, saying one was pending a final agreement from Israel. 

Those comments came after a meeting with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally, who has been mediating with the group.

Beirut strikes continue

Meanwhile, Israel continued air strikes on Beirut into Sunday night after Hezbollah fired about 250 rockets and other projectiles into Israel, wounding seven people in one of the militant group’s heaviest barrages in months. 

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Sunday’s attacks in northern and central Israel came in response to deadly Israeli strikes in central Beirut on Saturday.

Meanwhile, negotiators press on with ceasefire efforts to halt the all-out war.

And Lebanon’s military says an Israeli strike on a Lebanese army centre in the southwest killed one soldier and wounded 18 others.

Israel’s military has expressed regret and said its operations are directed solely against the militants.

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The militant group Hezbollah is ideologically aligned with Gaza-based Hamas and began firing into Israel the day after the war in the Strip started in October last year.

Hezbollah and Israel have traded almost daily fire, displacing tens of thousands on both sides of the border.

On 1 October 1, the Israeli military launched a ground operation into Lebanon with as many as 15,000 IDF troops believed to be in the country.

Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,500 people in the country, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

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And fighting has displaced about 1.2 million people, or a quarter of the country’s population.

On the Israeli side, about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed in bombardments in northern Israel and the fighting.