UN force says refused Israeli requests to quit south Lebanon positions

A spokesman for UN peacekeepers in Lebanon Saturday said Israel had requested it leave its positions in south Lebanon where Israel is clashing with Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, but they had refused.

They asked us to withdraw “from the positions along the Blue Line… or up to five kilometers (three miles) from the Blue Line,” UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti said, using the term for the demarcation line between both countries.

“But there was a unanimous decision to stay.”

Tenenti also said that Israel-Hezbollah clashes in the south of the country had inflicted “a lot of damage” on its positions.

Working is “very difficult because there is a lot of damage, even inside the bases,” Tenenti said.

“Just last night, on the position of the Ghanaian peacekeepers, just outside, the blast was so strong that it destroyed some of the containers inside very badly.”

Tenenti also said he feared the Israeli escalation against Hezbollah in the country’s south could soon spiral out of control.

This risks “turning very soon into a regional conflict with catastrophic impact for everyone,” Tenenti said, calling for a diplomatic solution.