UN peacekeepers again accuse Israel of attacking posts in Lebanon

The UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon on Friday accused the Israeli military of “deliberate and direct destruction” of its property.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said two excavators and one bulldozer belonging to the Israeli army destroyed part of a fence and a concrete structure in a UNIFIL position in the border area of Ras Naqoura on Thursday.

The mission called the incident a “a flagrant violation” of international law.

The “incident, like seven other similar incidents, is not a matter of peacekeepers getting caught in the crossfire, but of deliberate and direct actions by the IDF [Israeli military],” UNIFIL added in a post on X.

“We again remind the IDF and all actors of their obligation to ensure the safety and security of UN personnel and property and respect the inviolability of UN premises at all times,” the mission said.

On Thursday, UNIFIL said five peacekeepers were slightly injured in an Israeli drone strike in Sidon in southern Lebanon.

Northern Israel hit by missiles from Lebanon

Elsewhere on Friday, northern Israel was hit by missile fire from Lebanon, the Israeli military reported.

Five missiles were fired at the majority-Arab community of Kafr Yasif north of Haifa, it said.

Four were intercepted, while one hit a house. Nobody was injured, but the Times of Israel published videos of the strike on X.

In total, around 80 missiles were recorded, slightly fewer than in previous days.

The Hezbollah militia has been firing missiles at northern Israel for more than a year.

Israel bombs Hezbollah in residential area

Later on Friday, the Iran-backed Hezbollah commando centres located in residential areas in Lebanon’s southern coastal city of Tyre, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said.

Israel accused the Shiite militia group of embedding its fighters in civilian areas “to plan and carry out terror attacks, putting Lebanese civilians in harms way.”

Three people were killed and about 30 others injured, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. Tyre is about 25 kilometres north of the de facto border with Israel.

The IDF said through the course of the day, it destroyed launch pads for rockets that had been fired at Israel, killed dozens of Hezbollah fighters and destroyed weapons caches and terrorist infrastructure. The information cannot be independently verified at this stage.

Israel wants to drive the Hezbollah militia northwards out of the border area, so that around 60,000 civilians evacuated from the north of Israel can return to their homes.

Houthi militia targets military airbase in southern Israel

Meanwhile, the Houthi militia in Yemen, which is allied with Iran, said on Friday it had attacked the Nevatim military airbase in southern Israel.

The group had also intercepted a US drone over western Yemen, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said.

Israel’s army said it had intercepted a missile fired from Yemen.

There have been repeated attacks on Israel by the so-called “Axis of Resistance” of Iran’s allies since the beginning of the Gaza war over a year ago.

In addition to Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the “Axis of Resistance” includes militias in Iraq and the Houthi rebels in Yemen.

US and Israeli military forces have repeatedly bombed targets in Yemen in response.