Austin calls for protection

USA concerned about shelling of UN peacekeepers

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin(Bild: AP/Kin Cheung)

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has conveyed his concern to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over reports that Israeli forces have fired on UN peacekeeping positions in Lebanon.

In a conversation with his Israeli counterpart, Austin called for the security and protection of the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, and the Lebanese armed forces, the US Department of Defense said.

According to the Hezbollah militia, a third UN soldier has now been wounded. This happened when Hezbollah fought Israeli troops who wanted to enter the village of Ramia in the south of Lebanon.

Galilee shelled
Meanwhile, the Israeli military intercepted five shells fired from Lebanon on Sunday. At around 09:00 (08:00 CEST), alarm sirens sounded in several areas of northern Israel, the army announced on Sunday. Several regions in the Galilee area as well as the coastal city of Haifa and the Carmel mountain range were affected.

The shells were successfully intercepted, the army said. On Saturday, the highest Jewish holiday Yom Kippur, the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia in Lebanon fired around 320 shells at Israel, according to the Israeli army.

Meanwhile, Lebanese state media reported that a mosque in the south of Lebanon had been hit in an Israeli air strike on Sunday. During the night, the "old mosque in the center of the village of Kfar Tibnit was completely destroyed", reported the national news agency NNA. Mayor Fuad Yassin told the AFP news agency that the mosque was at least 100 years old. Kfar Tibnit is located around eight kilometers from the border with Israel.

Clashes along the border
Hezbollah reported two clashes with Israeli soldiers along the border on Sunday. The pro-Iranian militia used explosive devices against the Israeli soldiers near the Lebanese village of Ramia "when they tried to enter". The fighting lasted about an hour. The militia also announced that it had attacked Israeli soldiers on both sides of the border.

According to official figures, 2,255 people have been killed in Lebanon since the conflict with Israel began around a year ago. This is according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.