What we know about attacks on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon

UN peacekeepers say they are targeting Israeli troops in Lebanon after a suspected attack on an observation tower at one of their bases on Wednesday.

The Israeli military (IDF) says it is investigating the incident, the seventh since October 9, for which the United Nations peacekeeping force (UNIFIL) has blamed the IDF.

UNIFIL also recorded three other attacks, but said they did not know who was behind them.

The latest accusation came hours after Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said his country “attaches great importance to the activities of UNIFIL and has no intention of harming the organization or its personnel”.

However, UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti told Sky News that the attacks were “not mistakes”.

Sky News’ data and forensics team looks at what we know about these incidents.

Israel ordered UN peacekeepers to leave

Israel has asked UNIFIL to evacuate 31 bases along the Israeli-Lebanese border, warning that those areas are an “active combat zone” as it seeks to dismantle Hezbollah’s military infrastructure.

The militant group has been firing rockets at Israel since October 8 last year in solidarity with Hamas, and Israel claims many of those rockets were fired from areas near UNIFIL bases.

UN peacekeeping forces have been stationed in the area since 1978 with a mandate to monitor hostilities and assist in the implementation of peace agreements.

UNIFIL spokeswoman Andrea Tenenti says IS has told the peacekeepers to leave for their own safety, but in recent days they have been attacked “mainly by IS”.

The image below shows the damage to the observation tower that Sky News geolocated to the western edge of the UNIFIL headquarters.

Former US Army explosive ordnance disposal technician Trevor Ball said the damage was “what you would expect to see” from an Israeli explosive ordnance tank, a position echoed by retired Irish Army colonel Desmond Travers.

Former British Army artillery officer and director of Chiron Resources, Chris Cobb-Smith, said it was “almost certainly a tank strike”.

“I firmly believe this was a deliberate strike,” he adds, noting the optical technology available on IDF tanks and the Israeli military’s long-standing knowledge of where UNIFIL bases are located.

However, NR Jenzen-Jones, director of Armaments Research Services (ARES), says the damage may also be consistent with a recoilless rifle, a weapon Hezbollah is believed to possess.

All four experts said the firing weapon most likely had a direct view of the tower.

Mr Cobb-Smith said the trajectory appeared “almost horizontal” and was from the south-west. A Sky News analysis of the topology of the area along this trajectory found that the tower was only visible from 100 meters, or from the top of a ridge 2 kilometers away.

Satellite images of the ridge show what appear to be new paths cleared in the foliage by HGVs between October 6 and 16, overlapping the date of the incident. Mr Cobb-Smith says the roads may be from tanks, but it is “hard to say for sure”.

Sky News asked the IDF if it fired the shot that hit the tower, but did not receive an answer to that specific question. The IDF told us that Hezbollah is operating from near UNIFIL posts, adding that the Israeli military is in routine communication with UNIFIL.

The IDF said it issued a warning to UNIFIL troops at the base hours earlier, instructing them to enter protected spaces.

“We got no warning,” says Mr. Tenenti.

“At the time we were at level 2, which is not the highest security level. Level 3 is when we go into the bunkers because there is active shelling.”

The IDF claims Hezbollah is active near UN bases

The IDF defends the need to conduct military operations near UNIFIL bases, arguing that Hezbollah often buries weapons caches and digs tunnels in nearby areas.

On Sunday, the Israeli military showed journalists what it said were a pair of tunnel entrances and a cache of small arms used by Hezbollah several hundred meters from UNP 1-31, the base that UNIFIL said had been attacked three times in the previous week .

Brigade Gen. Yiftach Nurkin said the tunnel entrances should have been visible to UNIFIL.

Footage taken at the scene showed the base’s observation tower visible from one of the tunnel entrances, standing upright, as well as an IDF observation post.

However, it is not clear whether the entrance was previously hidden by bushes. Satellite images and ground footage show that large parts of the area have been stripped of trees and bushes since the IDF began its ground invasion.

Under UN Security Council Resolution 1701, adopted in 2006, neither Hezbollah nor Israel are allowed to operate in southern Lebanon.

Since then, however, Hezbollah has not only maintained but expanded its military infrastructure in the area – including tunnels and caches right along the Israeli border.

Lebanese political analyst Sami Nader says UNIFIL is hampered by the weakness of the Lebanese government.

“The Lebanese army had to deploy along the entire border between Israel and Lebanon,” he says. “But they didn’t have enough political support from the government because of internal division and Hezbollah’s influence.”

Lebanon has also accused Israel of violating the agreement by repeatedly using its airspace without permission to strike Syria.

Five peacekeepers were injured in the attacks

UNIFIL reported two incidents during the night of 11 October.

The IDF says “IDF activity poses no danger to UNIFIL forces”. An Israeli security official added that “none of this would have happened” if UNIFIL had evacuated the post when requested.

Later that day, the IDF claimed that Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel from a location just 150 meters from the UNP 5-42 base.

The same IDF infographic also claims that Hezbollah fired rockets from another UNIFIL base, UNP 4-2. The IDF declined to comment on this allegation.

UNIFIL spokesman Mr. Tenenti says that even if the IDF was under fire, “this does not justify entering our position and endangering our troops.”

“You are putting the lives of our peacekeepers at risk by staying inside [our base]”, he adds. “We are not part of the conflict.”

He says IS also risked drawing fire against UNIFIL peacekeepers by establishing positions next to their bases.

The photos below, shared and verified by Sky News, were taken sometime between October 1 and 3. They show the view from UNP 6-52, which was manned by the Irish and Polish contingents of UNIFIL.

The photo on the left shows at least three IDF Merkava tanks just 20 meters from the southern perimeter of the base. The picture on the right shows an IDF tank and bulldozer less than 270 meters west of the base.

Satellite images taken a few days later showed what the IDF was building – earthworks strengthening at least 28 military vehicles located 125 meters from the UNIFIL base.

Sky News asked the IDF why it chose to establish a position right next to the base, but did not receive an answer to that specific question.

UNIFIL refuses to leave its posts

On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the IDF was doing its “maximum” to prevent harm to UN peacekeepers, but “the best way to ensure the safety of UNIFIL personnel is for UNIFIL to heed Israel’s request and temporarily get out of danger way”.

Mr Tenenti says it is the responsibility of both Israel and Hezbollah to ensure the safety of peacekeepers and UNIFIL intends to carry out its mission of monitoring the hostilities, which it says is “more important than ever”.

“Imagine that suddenly… there [is] no one can watch,” he says.

I think we should ask IS why they prefer not to have a peacekeeping force.

Additional reporting by Olive Enokido-Lineham and Sam Doak, OSINT producers

The Data and forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to delivering transparent journalism from Sky News. We collect, analyze and visualize data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite imagery, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling, we aim to better explain the world while showing how our journalism is done.