Sidon:
An Israeli attack on a car near a checkpoint in the southern city of Sidon on Thursday killed three people and wounded soldiers and U.N. peacekeepers, the Lebanese military said.
The military said “Israeli enemies targeted a car as it passed through the Awali checkpoint,” the main entrance to northern Sidon.
Apart from a few limited attacks, the majority Sunni Muslim city of Sidon has been relatively spared from deadly airstrikes targeting southern Lebanon in Israel’s war against the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement.
The attack killed three people, all passengers in the targeted vehicle, the military said.
Three Lebanese soldiers at the checkpoint and members of the Malaysian contingent of UNIFIL were also injured, according to the military.
“A convoy transporting newly arrived peacekeepers to southern Lebanon was passing through Sidon when a drone strike occurred nearby,” the UNIFIL peacekeeping force said.
“Five peacekeepers were slightly injured and received treatment from the Lebanese Red Cross at the scene. They will continue to remain at their posts,” the statement read, urging all warring parties to “avoid taking steps that would put peacekeepers or civilians at risk.” action in.
UNIFIL has thousands of peacekeepers
Lebanon’s official state news agency said a UNIFIL vehicle was in “the same lane” during the attack, causing “slight injuries” to the UN peacekeepers.
An AFP reporter in the area saw the charred and mangled remains of the target vehicle, just meters away from an army checkpoint.
Reporters saw UNIFIL peacekeepers gathered on the sidewalk near the checkpoint. Some of them were bleeding and injured after the attack, and medical staff were treating their injuries.
Reporters said the UNIFIL fleet consisted of multiple buses.
In recent weeks, Israel has stepped up attacks on Haret al-Saida, a densely populated Sidon suburb with a large Shiite Muslim population.
Israel is also increasingly launching targeted attacks on vehicles. An Israeli attack on a car on Thursday killed a woman on a main road linking the capital Beirut with the Bekaa Valley and Syria, a security source told AFP.
Lebanese state news agency earlier reported that “an enemy drone struck a car in Araya,” adding that the attack caused traffic jams on the road.
The highway cuts through the Lebanese mountains and connects Beirut to the Syrian capital Damascus.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
