UN Reports Continued Israeli Airspace Violations in Lebanon Despite US-Iran Deal

The United States and Iran announced a Pakistani-mediated agreement on Sunday evening to end military operations across multiple fronts, including Lebanon, according to a report by Anadolu Agency (aa.com.tr). The agreement was expected to be signed in Switzerland on Friday, that report said. Before the agreement was announced, the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, UNIFIL, recorded 135 airspace violations by the Israel Defense Forces, with a cumulative overflight time exceeding 222 hours, the same report said.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said UNIFIL had observed a decrease in violence and exchanges of fire from midnight until 4 p.m. local time, according to the Anadolu report. In that period, UNIFIL recorded 133 projectile trajectories and two airstrikes by Israeli forces, and no trajectories from Hizbullah or non-State actors. The mission also documented 25 violations of Lebanese airspace by Israeli forces, with an approximate overflight time of 40 hours. Over the weekend, the mission noted 1,374 projectile trajectories, of which 1,328 were attributed to Israeli forces.

A separate UN News report gives different figures for the same midnight-to-4 p.m. window, though it places it on Friday. According to that report, Dujarric said at the noon briefing in New York that UNIFIL recorded 748 trajectories, 49 airspace violations and 51 airstrikes by Israeli forces. The UN News report also said the UN was aware of reports that Israel and Hezbollah had agreed to a ceasefire. Neither Israel nor Hezbollah had publicly confirmed that renewed commitment, according to reports cited by UN News, and Israel had indicated it was not bound by the deal.

UN News reported that talks to advance the provisional US-Iran deal in Switzerland were postponed because of Israeli strikes on Lebanon on Friday. The Anadolu report, which gave Lebanese Health Ministry figures, said Israel’s campaign in Lebanon since March 2 has resulted in 3,783 deaths and 11,699 injuries, and has displaced more than one million people. Those casualty and displacement figures are attributed to the Lebanese Health Ministry, not verified by the UN in these reports.

Despite the strikes, UN News reported that many families who had left Saida after the recent agreement were returning. In one shelter there, nearly half of those who had departed were back by Friday morning. UN independent human rights experts welcomed the signing of the 14-point Memorandum of Understanding between Washington and Tehran. They warned, however, that any agreement failing to address rights abuses inside Iran would be fundamentally incomplete.

UNIFIL stepped up deliveries of food and essential assistance to displaced families in Beirut and surrounding areas this week, according to UN News, a practical act of care for neighbors in need (Matthew 25:35).