Soldiers from the Lebanese army in the area where the incident happened, today (Photo: Reuters)
Officials in Israel commented this evening (Thursday) on the incident in which an Irish UNIFIL soldier was killed and said that "it is not clear at this stage who the gunmen are who carried out the shooting, but the assessment is that they are Hezbollah operatives.
UNIFIL is in no hurry to confront Hezbollah, so this whole incident is unusual."
In the past year, UNIFIL officials were informed by security officials in Israel that Hezbollah had carried out a cyber attack against them, but they did not address this publicly and did not take a position against them.
Defense Minister Benny Gantz also commented on the incident and wrote: "I would like to express regret on behalf of the security establishment for his death of a UNIFIL soldier today in Lebanon. I am sure that the details of the incident will be investigated in depth, and I would like to emphasize that the activities of UNFIL are of great importance, and play a significant role in maintaining stability and peace in our region."
UNIFIL force in Lebanon, archive (Photo: Reuters)
The soldier was killed after fire was opened at the convoy that was making its way to Beirut from southern Lebanon - this is what the Ministry of Defense of Ireland announced this morning, describing the incident as a "serious incident".
Another Irish soldier was seriously injured in the incident and two other soldiers were slightly injured.
The convoy was attacked in a town that is right next to the area where the force that is supposed to monitor the tense border between Lebanon and Israel was deployed.
The UNIFIL said earlier that they have opened an investigation into the incident and are cooperating with the Lebanese army. "At this point, the details are few and contradictory," the force's statement said.
The Prime Minister of Lebanon, Najib Mikati, expressed regret and called for an investigation to be opened, while calling on all parties to "behave with prudence and restraint".
The Lebanese army also expressed condolences on the death of the Irish soldier, but did not provide any further details.
Vofik Spa, a senior member of Hezbollah, told the Reuters news agency that an "unintended incident" led to the death of the Irish soldier.
He emphasized that the organization, which actually controls southern Lebanon, was not involved in the incident and called for it not to be "brought into it".
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