A United Nations car that came under fire in south Lebanon leaving one Irish peacekeeper dead, probably took a wrong turn in the dark and became separated from its convoy, an official has said.
Irish citizen Private Sean Rooney, 24, serving as part of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (Unifil), died from a bullet wound to his head after seven projectiles pierced the car he was travelling in during a routine run to Beirut airport.
Investigations are underway into the attack, which took place on Wednesday evening.
Irish defence minister Simon Coveney told national broadcaster RTE that Private Rooney’s vehicle was surrounded by “a hostile mob” as it entered the southern coastal town of al-Aqbiyeh which is located off the main highway to the capital.
He said shots were fired and the peacekeeper – a member of the 27 Infantry Battalion – was killed. Another soldier was critically injured and two others lightly injured.
Al-Aqbiyeh is located in the southern stronghold of the powerful Lebanese militant and political group Hezbollah, which denied involvement in the attack, calling it an “unintentional incident”.
Hezbollah-aligned media, meanwhile, have shifted the blame on to Unifil, saying the soldiers alarmed residents by deviating off the main road, entering the coastal area and refusing to stop when inhabitants surrounded the vehicle.
Andrea Tenenti, Unifil’s spokesperson, told The Independent that investigations were still ongoing into the incident which he called a “unacceptable, unjustifiable and… horrendous crime”.
He said that initial assumptions point to the convoy being separated in the confusion in the dark, as street lights rarely work in Lebanon, which has chronic electricity shortages.
“We have to think that this area at night is very, very dark especially these days with the economic crisis there is not public and private electricity.
“In that spot when you enter inside the highway it is not too difficult to make a wrong turn and end up driving parallel to the main road,” he said.
“The assumption is that one of the two vehicles took a wrong turn – and that is why they ended up in this town. When they realised they were in different areas it was too late.”
Unverified video footage shows a white Unifil armoured car surrounded by residents as it tries to navigate parked cars which appear to block its progress. The Unifil vehicle then swerves dramatically before repeated shots are fired.
Another video also shared online, and also unverified, shows what appears to be the smashed up Unifil car on its side by a shop front, with a dazed and wounded soldier lying on the floor next to it.
The convoy had been travelling to Beirut airport as two of the eight personnel in the cars were returning to Ireland on compassionate leave following the death of family members,
Senior Hezbollah official Wafiq Safa meanwhile told Reuters the party did not want to be “inserted” into an incident it had no part in, adding that residents had been hit by Unifil cars.
However Mr Coveney later told RTE he did not accept Hezbollah’s assurances that it had no involvement.
“We don’t accept any assurances until we have a full investigation concluded to establish the full truth,” he said.
We don’t accept any assurances until we have a full investigation concluded to establish the full truth— Irish defence minister Simon Coveney
“Yes there has been some tension on the ground between Hezbollah forces and Unifil in recent months but nothing like this,” the defence minister added.
This was not the first attack on Unifil convoys in Lebanon’s restive south. Convoys have been stopped, pelted with rocks and even looted in multiple incidents earlier this year and in December 2021.
About 13,000 UN peacekeepers are stationed in Lebanon, where the interim force has managed a ceasefire with Israel.
It was originally created to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops after a 1978 invasion. The mission was expanded in Lebanon under a UN-brokered truce after the month-long war between Israel and Hezbollah militants in 2006.
A total of 47 soldiers serving with Unifil have lost their lives since 1978. The last time peacekeepers were killed in an attack was when three Colombian and three Spanish soldiers in the international force were hit by a bomb blast between Marjayoun and Khaim in southern Lebanon in June 2007.
In 2011, six Italian soldiers were injured when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb near Sidon.
In January a Unifil convoy came under attack by unknown perpetrators in the southern town of Bint Jbeil. Residents accused Irish peacekeepers of taking photos of residential neighbourhoods. At the time the UN said vehicles were “vandalised and official items were stolen”. It followed a similar attack on Finnish peacekeepers in December 2021 when they were pelted with rocks.
Mr Tenenti told The Independent that while the situation had until Wednesday “been very calm” in the south he admitted there had been a number of incidents “related in a way to a perceived misunderstanding, disinformation on what the mission is supposed to do, like whether or not we patrol with or without the Lebanese army”.
Hezbollah-aligned media has repeatedly made reference to the fact that the Unifil car on Wednesday did not have a Lebanese army escort.
“The mandate is we can patrol without the Lebanese army,” Mr Tenenti continued. “We coordinate activities.”
He said the country’s caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati, and head of the Lebanese armed forces, as well as the speaker of parliament and a delegation of MPs had travelled to the Unifil base to pay their condolences since the killing. He said they also reaffirmed their support of mandate of the mission.
Unifil said it was coordinating with the Lebanese army and had opened an investigation but details remained “sparse and conflicting”.
The UN’s special coordinator for Lebanon, Joanna Wronecka, said on Twitter: “A quick & thorough investigation to determine the facts of this tragic incident is crucial.”
Mr Mikati said on Friday that investigations were ongoing, adding that those responsible “will be punished”, urging all parties to “show wisdom and patience”.
The United States on Thursday condemned “in the strongest terms the violent attack on Unifil peacekeepers”, and said generally that hostility against peacekeepers “is unconscionable”.
