ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s United Nations Ambassador on Sunday condemned the recent attacks on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon amid Israel’s invasion of the country, demanding an impartial probe into the separate incidents.
Israeli forces have been pounding Lebanon with airstrikes and a ground offensive in the south since Mar. 2, after Hezbollah entered the US–Israeli war on Iran with a retaliatory cross-border attack following the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFL) announced on Apr. 3 that three peacekeepers were wounded after a blast at a UN facility near Adeisse and were taken to a hospital. Separately, three Indonesian peacekeepers serving with UNIFL were killed in different attacks near the Lebanese villages of Adshit Al-Qusayr and Bani Haiyyan on Mar. 29 and 30 amid exchanges of fire between the invading Israeli forces and armed groups fighting them in southern Lebanon.
“While strongly condemning these attacks, Pakistan calls for a prompt, thorough, transparent, and impartial investigation,” Iftikhar Ahmed, Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN, wrote on X.
“Only strict accountability can ensure justice, as well as deter future attacks against UN peacekeepers.”
Ahmed noted that attacks against UN peacekeepers constitute “serious violations” of UN Security Council resolutions and international humanitarian law.
“Pakistan expresses its unwavering solidarity with the Government and brotherly people of Indonesia, as well as with the families of the injured peacekeepers,” the statement added.
Israel’s strikes and ground offensives in Lebanon have killed 1,345 people, wounded 4,040, the Lebanese health ministry said on Thursday. The deaths include 1,129 men, 91 women and 125 children.
Pakistan, which does not recognize Israel, has criticized its attacks targeting Iran, Palestine and Lebanon. Islamabad has frequently urged the international community to intervene and hold Israel to account for its bombing of civilians in the Middle East.
