Indonesian President Joko Widodo issued a strong condemnation of Israel on Tuesday after an attack on United Nations peacekeepers in southern Lebanon that wounded three Indonesian soldiers.
The soldiers were serving with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), a peacekeeping mission established in 1978 to monitor the cessation of hostilities in the region and ensure the security of the Lebanese-Israeli border.
“We strongly condemn (the attack),” Joko said in the statement broadcast on the presidential secretariat’s YouTube channel. “Peacekeepers should not be attacked, and yet they were injured in this incident,” he added.
According to the Indonesian Foreign Ministry, two Indonesian troops were injured on October 10 during an Israeli attack on the UNIFIL post in Naqoura, a coastal town in southern Lebanon.
A third Indonesian peacekeeper was wounded in a subsequent attack on the same base on Sunday, the ministry said.
The Israeli army acknowledged opening fire but said the Hezbollah militia was operating near the UNIFIL positions.
Hezbollah has been launching rockets from Lebanon at Israel since the start of the Gaza war a year ago. According to the militia, it acts in solidarity with the Palestinian Islamic group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
According to the UN, Indonesia is the largest contributor to the 10,000-strong UNIFIL, with about 1,300 resident peacekeepers.
Indonesia last week called for a full investigation into the attack and said Israel must be held accountable for the actions of its forces.
UNIFIL reported that an Israeli Merkava tank fired at the observation post, causing the injuries, and confirmed that Israeli forces have continued to attack UN positions in the area.
