India has called for the protection of UN peacekeepers in Lebanon, who are caught in the middle of a heightened conflict between Israel and Hezbollah following the Iran war. A joint statement by India and 29 other countries stated that peacekeepers must never be the target of attacks or intimidation of any kind, and urged all parties, under all circumstances, to ensure the safety and security of these personnel and their premises in accordance with international law.
With India's Permanent Representative P. Harish by his side, France's Permanent Representative Jerome Bonnafont read out the statement outside the UN Security Council before it met to discuss the situation in Lebanon. Three Ghanaian peacekeepers were injured at their base last week amid heavy firing in a southern Lebanon area. The statement strongly condemned Hezbollah's reckless decision to join the Iranian attacks against Israel, which dragged Lebanon into a war that neither its authorities nor its population wanted.
