MENA Sees Further Tensions as UN Peacekeepers Targeted in Lebanon, While Sudan Crisis Deepens in El-Fasher

MENA Sees Further Tensions as UN Peacekeepers Targeted in Lebanon, While Sudan Crisis Deepens in El-Fasher
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The United Nations and France on Monday sharply condemned Israeli military action near UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, warning of “very dangerous” developments, Arab News reported.

The incident began when an Israeli reconnaissance drone dropped a grenade near a UNIFIL patrol at Kfar Kila. A subsequent shot from an Israeli tank followed. UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said UNIFIL is working with the Israeli Defense Forces to file a formal protest, and noted this was not the first encounter — previous incidents on October 1, 2 and 11 involved warning shots and laser targeting of peacekeepers. The French foreign ministry affirmed that UNIFIL troops involved were French nationals and reiterated its condemnation of the strike.

Meanwhile in Sudan, the UN pleaded for safe exit routes for civilians trapped in besieged El Fasher after fighting escalated between the regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Humanitarian coordinator Denise Brown reported that hundreds of displaced people, “dehydrated, malnourished, injured and traumatized,” reached the nearby hub of Tawila after hazardous treks by road. The UN’s rights office has documented summary executions, sexual violence and ethnic cleansing inside the city, while access for aid convoys remains blocked by RSF fighters who control road links. With the city under siege for more than 500 days and over 128 humanitarian workers killed across Sudan since the war began in April 2023, the UN warns any further delay in safe passage could cost thousands of civilian lives.

These parallel crises in Lebanon and Sudan highlight persistent threats to peacekeepers and civilians alike — raising urgent calls for international action to protect allowable zones of conflict and humanitarian access.