Rome
\nThe UN peacekeeping agency in southern Lebanon has said four of its soldiers have been injured in a rocket attack on one of its bases.
\nThe Italian soldiers were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries after the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) base in Shama, south-west Lebanon, was struck by two 122mm rockets, the agency said in a statement.
\nUnifil said the rockets were likely launched by Hezbollah or affiliates of the armed group.
\nHezbollah has not commented on Unifil\u2019s statement, but the group said it fired a salvo of rockets at Israeli forces to the west of Shama earlier on Friday.
\nItalian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed \u201cprofound indignation\u201d over the news and said such attacks were \u201cunacceptable\u201d.
\nThe latest attack is the third to hit Unifil\u2019s base in Shama in a week. On Tuesday, Unifil said the base was damaged by rocket fire likely from \u201cnon-state actors\u201d.
\nIt said Friday\u2019s attack hit a bunker and a logistics area. One of the affected structures caught fire but was quickly extinguished, the agency said.
\nUnifil has accused the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), and in some cases Hezbollah and its affiliates, of a growing number of attacks on peacekeeping forces since Israel began a ground incursion into southern Lebanon on 30 September targeting Hezbollah.
\nHezbollah and Israel have traded near daily cross-border fire since October 2023, when Hamas fighters attacked communities in southern Israel.
\nIsrael argues that Unifil has failed to prevent Hezbollah militants from operating near the Israeli border – among the reasons for a UN presence there – and has urged Unifil forces to leave the area for their own safety.
\nIt also says that Hezbollah deliberately operates from sites located near Unifil positions.
\nUnifil has refused to withdraw from its positions, and has repeatedly urged all sides to cease both direct and indirect attacks on its bases, which it has said are a \u201cflagrant violation\u201d of international law.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rome The UN peacekeeping agency in southern Lebanon has said four of its soldiers have been injured in a rocket attack on one of its bases. The Italian soldiers were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries after the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) base in Shama, south-west Lebanon, was struck by two 122mm rockets, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":445407,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-445395","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n