Indonesia has demanded a swift investigation after three of its UN peacekeepers were killed in Israel’s deadly bombardment of southern Lebanon over the weekend.
The three Indonesian peacekeepers were killed in two separate incidents as Israeli forces expanded their ground invasion, pushing deeper into the south of the country for their goal of targeting Hezbollah. The weekend strike that killed the peacekeepers also killed three journalists.
Two were killed on Monday after an explosion from an unknown origin destroyed their vehicle near Bani Hayyan in south Lebanon, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said in a statement. Two other soldiers were wounded in the blast.
Another Indonesian soldier was killed overnight Sunday into Monday when a projectile exploded near one of the group’s positions close to the southern Lebanese village of Adchit al-Qusayr. Another peacekeeper was critically injured at the time.
It marked the first deaths of UN peacekeeping forces in the region and the most serious incident reported by the Indonesian contingent in Israel’s latest campaign to target the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah since 2 March.
On Monday, the ministry said the deceased peacekeeper was one of its citizens and that three others were injured by “indirect artillery fire”.
“Indonesia strongly condemns the incident and calls for a thorough and transparent investigation,” the Indonesian foreign ministry said in a statement.
“Indonesia reiterates its condemnation of Israel’s attacks in southern Lebanon and calls on all parties to respect Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, cease attacks against civilian populations and infrastructure, and return to dialogue and diplomacy to prevent further escalation and advance peace.”
In a post on X, foreign minister Sugiono called an emergency UN Security Council meeting and “for a swift, thorough, and transparent investigation” into the “heinous attack” after speaking with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
“These are two separate incidents, and we are investigating them as two separate incidents,” said United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) spokesperson Kandice Ardiel.
Mr Sugiono, who was in Japan for a meeting with the Japanese prime minister, said that Indonesia would await the UNIFIL investigation “to find the origin of this incident”.
The UNIFIL has about 7,300 peacekeepers patrolling the Blue Line demarcation that separates southern Lebanon from northern Israel to monitor hostilities in the area that has become the heart of clashes between Israeli troops and Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters.
Indonesia is the second largest contributor to UNIFIL, with 743 troops and 13 staff officers after it regularly began sending its troops to serve on rotation since 2006.
India joined Indonesia in condemning the attack, saying safety and security of the peacekeepers must be a priority.
India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Parvathaneni Harish, said: “Peacekeepers serve under difficult conditions and are deployed with the backing of a UN mandate in conflict areas. Peacekeeping is multilateralism in action.
“India joins the international community in condemning the recent attacks on UN Peacekeepers deployed in UNIFIL. We pay our homage to the fallen Blue Helmets,” he added.
Lebanon became entangled in the war in the Middle East when Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed militia as well as a political party, fired rockets into Israel in retaliation to the US and Israel’s joint strikes on Iran.
Hezbollah’s attack prompted a new Israeli ground and air offensive.
More than 1,240 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon, according to Lebanese authorities. They include more than 120 children, nearly 80 women and dozens of paramedics.
The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) said the incidents were being “thoroughly reviewed in order to clarify the circumstances and determine whether they resulted from Hezbollah activity or from IDF activity.”
In the weekend strikes in Beirut, at least 10 paramedics were killed, according to the Lebanese health ministry. Three journalists were killed in an Israeli strike on their car on Saturday.
The Israeli military has accused Hezbollah operatives of posing as Lebanese paramedics, and has said that some journalists it killed were part of the group’s intelligence or military wing. It has not publicly provided evidence to support those claims.
