Lebanon files complaints to UN Security Council over Israeli attacks

BEIRUT - The Lebanese Mission to the United Nations on Monday filed two complaints to the UN Security Council against Israel regarding the repeated attacks on the positions of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and the impact of Israeli military actions on the Lebanese education sector.

The first complaint, according to the Lebanese National News Agency, considered Israel's request for the peacekeeping forces to evacuate their positions as "illegitimate".

Lebanon stressed that "the Israeli attacks on UNIFIL are a dangerous precedent and a flagrant violation of international law and Security Council Resolution 1701".

In the complaint, Lebanon demanded "a firm and strict stance" be taken against these attacks, stressing "the need to hold Israel accountable for these violations and prevent it from repeating them, to avoid casualties among UNIFIL forces, and to ensure UNIFIL's ability to continue fulfilling its obligations stipulated in its mandate".

Five UNIFIL personnel were injured in recent days during battles between the Israeli army and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, where UNIFIL accused the Israeli army of "repeatedly" firing at its positions.

The Lebanese Mission to the United Nations also submitted a second complaint regarding the Israeli attacks' impact on the education sector in Lebanon.

In the complaint, Lebanon urged UN Security Council to intervene urgently and effectively to stop the ongoing Israeli "aggression" on its territory, which it said had deprived nearly 1.4 million students of their basic right to education.

The complaint called on the international community to "move immediately to ensure the cessation of aggression and the protection of the right to education as a fundamental pillar for building a stable and secure future for the country".

The Israeli army has launched intensive attacks on Lebanon since late September in an escalation with Hezbollah, heightening concerns about a broader war as the conflict between Hamas and Israel continues in the Gaza Strip.

According to the Lebanese Health Ministry, the death toll from the Israeli attacks on Lebanon since the onset of the Hezbollah-Israeli conflict has reached 2,309, with injuries totaling 10,782.