UNIFIL shoots down Israeli drone amid growing attacks on peacekeepers
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UN peacekeepers shot down an Israeli drone near Kfar Kila and accused the Israeli regime of escalating attacks that endangered their patrols.
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French UN peacekeepers deploy at the Suluki Valley, south Lebanon, Wednesday, August 20, 2025. (AP)
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) announced on Sunday that its troops had shot down an Israeli military drone that flew “in an aggressive manner” over one of its patrols in the Kfar Kila area near the southern border.
According to the Israeli occupation forces, the unmanned aircraft was conducting a "routine surveillance mission" when UN peacekeepers “opened fire on the device and downed it.” The Israeli occupation forces claimed that the drone had posed “no threat” to UNIFIL personnel.
In a statement, UNIFIL said its troops “applied necessary defensive countermeasures to neutralize the drone,” describing the device’s flight path as hostile and a clear violation of Lebanese sovereignty.
Escalation following the incident
Following the drone’s downing, the Israeli occupation forces confirmed that it had dispatched another unmanned aircraft over the same area, which “dropped a grenade”.
Earlier, UNIFIL said an Israeli drone and tank targeted its peacekeepers near the southern Lebanese town of Kfar Kila on Sunday afternoon, in what the mission described as a clear violation of international law.
In a statement posted on X, UNIFIL reported that at around 5:45 p.m., an Israeli drone approached a UNIFIL patrol and dropped a grenade, moments before an Israeli tank fired a round toward the peacekeepers. The mission confirmed that no injuries or damage occurred.
Statement on grenade attack on peacekeepers:
— UNIFIL (@UNIFIL_) October 26, 2025
This afternoon, at about 5:45 p.m., an Israeli drone came close to a UNIFIL patrol operating near Kfar Kila and dropped a grenade.
UNIFIL noted that the incident followed an earlier provocation in the same area, when another Israeli drone flew aggressively over the patrol, prompting peacekeepers to take defensive countermeasures to neutralize the threat.
The actions taken by the Israeli occupation forces, UNIFIL said, are in violation of Security Council resolution 1701 and Lebanon's sovereignty, and show disregard for the safety and security of peacekeepers implementing Security Council-mandated tasks in southern Lebanon," the statement said.
Pattern of aggression
UNIFIL has repeatedly documented Israeli aggression and intimidation tactics against its forces in southern Lebanon.
In May 2025, UNIFIL reported that Israeli gunfire struck one of its positions near Kfar Shouba, marking the first direct hit on a UN facility since the November 2024 cessation of hostilities. The same month, peacekeepers recorded incidents of Israeli drones shadowing patrols and laser beams directed from IOF tanks at UN vehicles operating near the border.
A few months earlier, in October 2024, UN and media reports confirmed that Israeli artillery fire hit a UNIFIL base in Naqoura, wounding at least two peacekeepers and damaging observation posts. France, Italy, and Spain, three major troop contributors to the mission, issued a joint statement condemning the strikes as a "serious violation" of international law and UNSC Resolution 1701.
UNIFIL records also show earlier patterns of aggression, including a 2017 series of incidents in which Israeli occupation forces blocked UN patrol routes and engaged in physical threats and harassment of peacekeepers attempting to monitor Israeli aggression along the Blue Line.
Ceasefire violations mount
The latest aggression comes amid a wave of Israeli attacks on southern Lebanese towns. On Saturday, an Israeli drone strike killed one civilian and injured another after targeting a car in Harouf, in the Nabatieh district, according to Al Mayadeen's correspondent.
A day earlier, another Israeli strike hit a vehicle in Zawtar al-Gharbiya, also in Nabatieh, killing one person and wounding another. Earlier in the week, two Lebanese civilians were martyred in an Israeli airstrike on a vehicle in the nearby town of Toul.
These repeated assaults have outraged residents and drawn condemnation from Lebanese officials, who accuse "Israel" of deliberately targeting civilians and infrastructure in defiance of international law and the ceasefire brokered under Resolution 1701.
According to UNIFIL records, "Israel" has violated the ceasefire thousands of times since its implementation, including over 2,000 armed attacks and 6,000 airspace incursions north of the Blue Line since November 2024. The UN warns that such actions "erode confidence in non-violent solutions" and threaten to unravel the fragile calm in the south.
