French soldier serving with UNIFIL killed in Lebanon attack

A French soldier serving with the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon has been killed, and three others were wounded in an attack that UNIFIL and French officials said was likely carried out by Hezbollah.

Three other members of the peacekeeping mission were wounded in the attack in the village of Ghandouriyeh in southern Lebanon, UNIFIL said on Saturday, two of them seriously.

UNIFIL noted that initial assessments indicated they came from non-state actors, allegedly Hezbollah, and that an investigation had been launched into what it called “a deliberate attack”.

In calls with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the “unacceptable attack”, his office said in a statement on Saturday.

Macron also said the evidence so far pointed to the Lebanese armed group and urged the Lebanese government to act against those responsible.

The Iran-aligned armed group rejected the allegations, calling for “exercising caution in issuing judgements regarding the incident”.

“We deny any connection to us with the incident that occurred with UNIFIL forces in the Ghandouriyeh area in Bint Jbeil,” Hezbollah said in a statement.

French Armed Forces Minister Catherine Vautrin said the patrol was ambushed while on a mission to open a route to a UNIFIL post that had been isolated by fighting in the area. The soldier was killed by direct small-arms fire, she said.

Lebanon’s army condemned the shooting and said it had opened an investigation.

President Aoun has also offered condolences and ordered an immediate probe, while Prime Minister Salam condemned the attack.

Fragile ceasefire

The deadly incidents come just days after an Israel-Lebanon 10-day ceasefire took effect and days before a truce in the United States-Israel war on Iran was set to expire.

Lebanon was drawn into the war in early March after Hezbollah fired rockets towards Israel in response to the US-Israeli killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on February 28. Israel responded with a devastating bombing campaign and a ground invasion that killed more than 2,000 people and forced more than 1.2 million others from their homes.

The declaration of a ceasefire in Lebanon was seen as a boost to efforts for an agreement to end the US-Israel war on Iran. Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said fighting between Israel and Hezbollah had been a key sticking point in US-Iran talks last weekend in Islamabad.

It was not clear whether Hezbollah would abide by a truce it did not play a role in negotiating, especially when it leaves Israeli troops occupying a stretch of southern Lebanon.