PARIS – A U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon came under attack with small arms fire Saturday morning leaving one French peacekeeper dead and three wounded, two of them seriously, France's president and the force known as UNIFIL said.
The attack near the southern Lebanese village of Ghandouriyeh came after a 10-day ceasefire went into effect at midnight Thursday between Israel and Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group.
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The latest Israel-Hezbollah war began on March 2 when the Iran-backed group launched rockets into Israel after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran, killing top officials including the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The war, in which Israel invaded parts of Lebanon, left nearly 2,300 people dead in Lebanon, more than 1 million people displaced and caused wide destruction.
“Everything suggests that responsibility for this attack lies with Hezbollah,” French President Emmanuel 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.
In Beirut, three judicial officials said the country's Military Tribunal opened an investigation over the incident and is in contact with the army's intelligence department to work on identifying the attackers. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
Macron identified the dead 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.
His death came nearly a month after a drone attack on March 12 targeted a Kurdish military base in Iraq's Erbil region, killing French Chief Warrant Officer Arnaud Frion and wounding six others.
French Armed Forces Minister Catherine Vautrin said Saturday that the soldier was killed during an ambush. She said he was on a mission to open a route toward a UNIFIL post that had been isolated for several days due to fighting in the area between Hezbollah and Israeli forces.
A 10-day ceasefire took effect in Lebanon on Friday, but it wasn't clear to what extent Hezbollah would abide by a truce it did not play a role in negotiating.
“He was caught in an ambush by an armed group at very close range,” she said on X. “Immediately hit by a direct shot from a light weapon, he was pulled back under fire by his comrades, who were unable to resuscitate him.”
UNIFIL said a patrol clearing explosive ordnance along a road in the village of Ghandouriyeh on Saturday to re-establish links with isolated UNIFIL positions came under small-arms fire from non-state actors. UNIFIL said one peacekeeper succumbed to his injuries and three others were injured, two of them seriously.
Macron spoke with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam following the attack “in order to call on the Lebanese authorities to shed full light on this incident, to identify and prosecute those responsible without delay, and to do everything possible to ensure the safety of UNIFIL soldiers, who must under no circumstances be targeted,” Macron's office said.
Salam posted on X that he has ordered an investigation into the attack and to bring the perpetrators to justice. Aoun and Lebanon's Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri condemned the attack.
The Lebanese army condemned the attack in a statement adding that it will continue its “close coordination” with UNIFIL. The army added that it is investigating the attack to detain the perpetrators.
Macron also reiterated “the importance of full respect for the ceasefire by all parties and reaffirmed France’s commitment to Lebanon’s sovereignty, for the benefit of all Lebanese people and regional stability.
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Petrequin reported from London.