Attacks on UN workers decried

Israeli attacks against UN peacekeepers in Lebanon have become the subject of condemnation amid expanding conflict in the Middle East, with the UN chief slamming them as a "breach of international law".

The rebuke came after the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, or UNIFIL, said on X that two Israeli Merkava tanks destroyed the main gate of a peacekeeper base and forcibly entered it before dawn on Sunday.

Shells also reportedly exploded, UNIFIL said, with the smoke causing at least 15 peacekeepers to suffer skin irritation and gastrointestinal reactions.

It said breaching and entering a UN position "is a further flagrant violation of international law and Security Council Resolution 1701(2006)" and any deliberate attack on peacekeepers is a grave violation of international humanitarian law and Resolution 1701.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on X on Sunday: "The safety of UN personnel and property must be guaranteed. The inviolability of UN premises must be respected at all times. Attacks against peacekeepers are in breach of international law and may constitute a war crime. UNIFIL personnel and premises must never be targeted."

The incident is the latest in a series of violations and attacks by Israeli forces on UN peacekeeping forces in recent days amid Israel's continued bombardment and ground attacks in Lebanon and Gaza.

The Israel Defense Forces said a large barrage of anti-tank missiles had been fired toward its troops in southern Lebanon, where two of its soldiers were severely injured.

It said an initial review showed an IDF tank "trying to evacuate injured soldiers while still under fire backed several meters into a UNIFIL post".It said a smoke screen was used to provide cover for the evacuation of the injured soldiers.

The IDF also posted locations where Hezbollah allegedly chose to launch rockets, including near a school and a UN building.

Hezbollah said on Sunday it attacked a camp belonging to the Israeli military's Golani Brigade in northern Israel with a "swarm of drones".

Israel's military said four of its soldiers were killed and seven severely injured in the incident.

On Monday, Israel expanded its targets in Lebanon, killing at least 18 people in its first strike on the Christian-majority town of Aitou in the north, the Lebanese Red Cross said.

So far, the main focus of Israel's military operations in Lebanon has been in the south, the eastern Bekaa Valley and the suburbs of Beirut.

Meanwhile, Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi on Sunday rejected and condemned two Israeli draft bills that could end the operations of the UN Palestine relief agency, UNRWA, in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Safadi slammed the bills as a blatant violation of international law and a deprivation of the Palestinian people's essential rights and services recognized by the international community.

The Arab League also condemned Israel's plans to seize the East Jerusalem headquarters of UNRWA and convert the site into a settlement.

Israel is implementing a plan to "eliminate the role of UNRWA and liquidate it", Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit said, expressing full Arab solidarity with the UN agency.

On Sunday evening, Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron discussed ways to stop fighting and establish a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah, the Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

Pezeshkian said Iran welcomes and supports any proposal that restores tranquility, peace and stability in the region, calling on Macron to continue efforts with other European countries to make Israel stop its military operations in Gaza and Lebanon.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday that Iran prepares for both war and peace, during a news conference in Baghdad with his Iraqi counterpart, Fuad Hussein, IRNA reported.

Stressing the need for regional countries to stop Israeli aggression in Gaza and Lebanon, Araghchi said Iran does not seek tension or to escalate tensions and conflict, but is "ready for war, just as we are prepared for peace".

Xinhua and agencies contributed to this story.

Contact the writers at jan@chinadailyapac.com