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A French soldier from the international force was killed and three others wounded while clearing a road in southern Lebanon, according to Reuters. The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) peacekeepers and French officials said on Saturday (April 18) that the Iranian-backed armed group Hezbollah was likely responsible for the attack.
The soldiers who were attacked were part of UNIFIL, a peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon. UNIFIL said two of the three injured members were in critical condition.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam condemned the attack, according to a statement from Macron’s office. French President Emmanuel Macron called on Lebanese authorities to take action against those responsible for the attack.
The UN peacekeeping mission UNIFIL said that initial assessments indicated that the fire was carried out by Hezbollah and that it had launched an investigation, calling it a “deliberate attack.”
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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the attack and called for a cessation of hostilities and respect for the ceasefire. However, Hezbollah denied any involvement in the attack and expressed surprise at the hasty and baseless accusations.
French Armed Forces Minister Catherine Vautrin said the patrol was ambushed and the soldier was killed by direct small arms fire.
Reuters’s reporting contributed to this article.
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