UN peacekeepers record worst Israeli escalation in Lebanon since June ceasefire deal
NEW YORK CITY: UN peacekeepers in Lebanon this week observed the sharpest surge in Israeli military activity since the announcement of a trilateral framework agreement for a ceasefire brokered by the US on June 26.
Between midnight and 4 p.m. local time on Thursday, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon recorded 120 projectiles fired by the Israeli military, the UN said. This surpassed the full-day total of 113 projectiles on Wednesday, and marked the highest single-day total since June 21, UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq said. UNIFIL did not detect any projectile launches by Hezbollah during either of those periods.
The escalation coincided with intensified Israeli air activity. The peacekeepers recorded 49 violations of Lebanese airspace on Wednesday totaling more than 131 hours of overflight time, the highest since June 23, as well as three airstrikes northwest of Al-Mansuri in the western sector of its area of operations in southern Lebanon, two of which hit an area northeast of a UNIFIL position. A further 29 airspace violations and at least three confirmed airstrikes near Al-Mansuri were observed on Thursday.
