Argentina Withdraws Troops from UNIFIL

By Staff, Agencies

Argentina has withdrawn four of its soldiers from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon [UNIFIL], according to Jean-Pierre Lacroix, UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations.

"Argentina has withdrawn, I believe, four officers from UNIFIL’s observer group in Lebanon," Lacroix stated during a briefing on Tuesday.

"It's the prerogative of any member state to make that decision," he added.

This marks Argentina as the first UNIFIL donor country to withdraw its personnel from the peacekeeping mission following repeated “Israeli” attacks on UN forces, and an increase in confrontations between the Resistance and “Israeli” forces.

Tasked since 1978 with monitoring the Blue Line along the border, UNIFIL has more than 9,300 troops.

The United Nations has reported that UNIFIL peacekeepers in Lebanon have repeatedly come under “Israeli” fire during the ongoing confrontations.

On Tuesday, UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti condemned "numerous hits" on the force's personnel and bases in more than a year of hostilities, which he said had wounded "more than 20 peacekeepers."

The UN peacekeepers had earlier accused the “Israeli” occupation military of damaging one of their South Lebanon positions in a "deliberate and direct" action against their forces.

The incident is like "seven other similar incidents" carried out by the “Israeli” military, UNIFIL pointed out in a statement.

It "is not a matter of peacekeepers getting caught in the crossfire, but of deliberate and direct actions by the" “Israeli” military, it said.

"Despite the unacceptable pressures being exerted on the mission through various channels, peacekeepers will continue to undertake our mandated monitoring and reporting tasks," UNIFIL underlined.