A French soldier was killed and three others were injured on Saturday morning during an attack on U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon that appeared to have been carried out by Hezbollah, French President Emmanuel Macron said.
"Everything suggests that responsibility for this attack lies with Hezbollah," Macron wrote on social media. "France demands that the Lebanese authorities immediately arrest those responsible and assume their responsibilities alongside UNIFIL," the U.N. mission in southern Lebanon.
Macron identified the soldier as Staff Sgt. Florian Montorio of the 17th Parachute Engineer Regiment from Montauban. He added that three of Montorio's "comrades in arms were injured and evacuated."
"The nation bows in respect and extends its support to the families of our soldiers and to all our military personnel engaged for peace in Lebanon," he said.
U.N. peacekeepers said that “non-state actors” were thought to have been behind the deadly attack on their personnel, saying it could have been linked to Iran-backed Hezbollah.
