Irish UNIFIL Peacekeeper Killed in Attack in Southern Lebanon

An Irish soldier participating in the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, or UNIFIL, was killed in southern Lebanon near the border with Israel after the convoy he was riding in was fired on by a hostile mob of Lebanese villagers as it traveled to Beirut during what UNIFIL says was a standard run. Three other soldiers were injured in what is being described as an ambush, with one of the soldiers in serious condition. One of the armored vehicles in the convoy heading to Beirut was stopped at an ad-hoc roadblock and surrounded by a “hostile mob” late on Wednesday, Ireland’s Foreign Minister Simon Coveney told the national broadcaster. After the vehicle was shot at, the driver reportedly lost control and slammed into a shop along the road to Beirut near the southern Lebanese village of Al-Aqbiya. Coveney also acknowledged that there has been some “tension on the ground” between UNIFIL and Hizbullah in recent months. HIzbullah told Reuters on Thursday that it was not involved in the attack. UNIFIL has operated in Lebanon since 1978 to maintain peace between Lebanon and Israel and was expanded in 2006 at the end of the war between Israel and Hizbullah in southern Lebanon.