Eight Austrian UN peacekeepers likely hit by Hezbollah rocket in southern Lebanon, UNIFIL says

Eight Austrian members of the UN peacekeeping force (UNIFIL) stationed in southern Lebanon have sustained minor injuries after being hit by a rocket likely fired by Hezbollah, UNIFIL said Tuesday.

“This afternoon a rocket hit UNIFIL’s headquarters in Naqoura, setting a vehicle workshop on fire. Peacekeepers were not in bunkers at the time,” the UN force said in a series of posts on its official X account.

According to Austrian defense ministry spokesperson Michael Bauer, the eight injured soldiers are all Austrian nationals and members of a maintenance platoon stationed in Lebanon.

The peacekeepers only sustained “minor injuries” with none of them “seriously injured,” UNIFIL said.

The peacekeeping force has opened an investigation into the incident which it said saw a rocket “fired from north of UNIFIL’s headquarters, likely by Hizbullah or an affiliated group.”

The attack was condemned in “the strongest possible terms” by Austrian defense minister Klaudia Tanner, who urged “all sides to immediately cease hostilities in the vicinity of the UN mission sites.”

This is by no means the first time that the UNIFIL headquarters have come under threat. Two UN peacekeepers were injured at the base after an Israeli tank fired toward an observation tower there on October 10, according to UNIFIL.