A Serbian UN peacekeeper from the UN mission deployed in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, has died and two other Spanish soldiers have been lightly injured due to a mortar shell attack on Wednesday night against a peacekeeping position near the Spanish base of the mission, in the Lebanese town of Marjayoun, in the south of the country.
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UNIFIL stated in a communiqué that the soldier died early Thursday morning in a hospital in the capital, Beirut, due to the “critical wounds” suffered in the attack, whose authorship is still unknown. It added that the injured are receiving medical care at the mission facility.
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Sources from the Spanish Ministry of Defense have confirmed to news agencies that the two injured peacekeepers are Spanish, before adding that they are in light condition and their lives are not in danger. “All support to our troops deployed in the mission and all our encouragement and solidarity to the Serbian contingent,” the ministry wrote on the social network X.
UNIFIL has also conveyed its “deep condolences” to the family and friends of the deceased and wished a “speedy recovery” to the injured, while confirming the opening of an investigation “to determine the exact circumstances that led to this tragic incident.”
Deliberate attacks against peace forces constitute serious violations of International Law”
UNIFIL statement
“UNIFIL has detected an increasing number of trajectories and impacts in southern Lebanon. The violence must stop,” the mission warned in a statement, reiterating its call to the parties to “fulfill their obligations under International Law and ensure the safety of UN personnel and property at all times, including refraining from actions that may endanger peace forces.”
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“Likewise, we urge the competent authorities to investigate the incident, bring those responsible to justice, and ensure accountability,” it said in its statement, reiterating that “deliberate attacks against peace forces constitute serious violations of International Humanitarian Law and Security Council Resolution 1701, and may constitute war crimes.”
For its part, the Serbian Ministry of Defense has identified the deceased as Sergeant Milovan Jovanovic, deployed in Lebanon. The ministry emphasized in a statement that “Sergeant Jovanovic received emergency medical care inside the base after being injured, then was airlifted by helicopter to the Beirut University Medical Center, where he died at 4:00 a.m. (local time).”
The incident, on which neither Israel nor the Shiite group Hizbullah, engaged in fighting in southern Lebanon, have commented so far, took place at 11:20 p.m. local time. Hours before the delegations of Lebanon and Israel agreed on the implementation of a ceasefire conditioned on the total cessation of attacks by the Lebanese group and the evacuation of all its members from the sector south of the Litani River, after a new round of negotiations concluded Wednesday in Washington, sponsored by the United States, and started the day before.
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