After his injury, the peacekeeping soldier was airlifted to a hospital in Beirut, where he died, UNIFIL said. In the current conflict between Israel and the militant movement Hezbollah in Lebanon, several UNIFIL soldiers have already been killed and injured.
The UNIFIL mission is supposed to oversee the implementation of resolution number 1701. Here in 2006, the UN Security Council adopted it after a five-week war between Israel and the militant movement Hezbollah, and its goal was to end the presence of armed non-state actors in the south of Lebanon in a 30-kilometer zone between the Lítani River and the border with Israel.
According to the Israeli government, non-fulfillment of the resolution and the inability of the Lebanese state to enforce its compliance contributed to the current escalation of the conflict. Hezbollah and its allies, on the other hand, argue that they have the right to resist Israeli actions in the region.
On Wednesday, Israel and Lebanon, with the mediation of the United States, agreed to extend the fragile ceasefire and create security zones in the south of Lebanon. According to the agreement, Hezbollah fighters are to be excluded from the areas south of the Lítání River and the Lebanese Armed Forces are to take control of the zones. A similar arrangement was foreseen by the UN resolution no. 1701.
At the same time, the agreement on the extension of the ceasefire faces an uncertain future. Hezbollah chief Naim Qasim dismissed it as a capitulation and stated that the movement will continue to attack northern Israel unless Israeli forces leave southern Lebanon and end their military operations.
