Lebanese army arrests six suspects after shooting on UNIFIL patrol

The Lebanese army said on Saturday that it arrested six individuals suspected of being involved in an attack on UN peacekeepers in the country’s south.

The announcement comes a day after a UNIFIL patrol reported being fired upon by six men on three mopeds in southern Lebanon and called for an investigation.

In a statement, the army said several citizens attacked a UNIFIL patrol along the road connecting Tyre and Bint Jbeil overnight Thursday-Friday, causing damage to a vehicle but resulting in no injuries to the personnel.

After launching an immediate probe, the army added that its intelligence directorate arrested six suspects.

It warned against any attacks on UNIFIL, emphasising the mission’s crucial stabilising role south of the Litani River, where it operates along with the Lebanese army.

UNIFIL peacekeepers have been tasked with acting as a buffer between Israel and Lebanon since March 1978, and with monitoring the November 2024 ceasefire that sought to halt more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.

The truce was supposed to see Israeli forces withdraw from Lebanon and refrain from attacks while the Iran-backed group is disarmed.

But Israeli forces continue to occupy five strategic border hills in south Lebanon and conduct frequent strikes, and Hezbollah rejects any plans to surrender its arms.

The Lebanese army has been dismantling Hezbollah’s weapons caches south of the Litani as part of a government-approved plan, with disarmament efforts in the region expected to conclude by year-end.

UNIFIL is scheduled to leave Lebanon at the end of 2026 after its mandate was extended for one last time in summer.

The UN mission has come under multiple attacks by Israeli forces, during last year’s war and since the ceasefire.

A United Nations Security Council delegation on Saturday emphasised that the "safety of peacekeepers must be respected and that they must never be targeted".

Speaking at the end of a Lebanon visit, the delegation urged all parties to uphold ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, expressing support for a state weapons monopoly.

"We came to Beirut at a pivotal time for the implementation of... the cessation of hostilities agreement of November of last year," Slovenian UN ambassador Samuel Zbogar, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the UN body, told reporters.

"All parties must uphold the November 2024 cessation of hostilities agreement, and we recognise progress achieved by Lebanon this year," he said.

"We reaffirm the council's support for Lebanon's territorial integrity, sovereignty and political independence."

"We also reaffirm commitment to the full implementation of Resolution 1701 in support of Lebanon's - as well as regional - security and stability," he added, referring to a 2006 Security Council decision that forms the basis of the current truce.

"We support the Lebanese government's decision to ensure the state's monopoly of arms," Zbogar said, also urging "intensified international support" for Lebanon's army.

(The New Arab, Agencies)