Italian troops from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) today detected "a series of explosive devices along the road leading to the forward operating base UNP 1-32A" of international troops in the south of the country.
The discovery by the Italian UNFIL contingent's patrol, announced by the Italian Ministry of Defence, comes after recent Israeli attacks on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon, which left several people injured, and occurred during a logistical movement by the blue helmets.
"An explosives disposal team from the contingent, which was on site, secured the area, but was unable to complete the clearing operations because, for reasons that are still being determined, one of the devices went off, causing a fire in the vicinity," the Italian government said in a statement.
No personal or material damage was reported, it added.
"UNIFIL and the Lebanese authorities are conducting investigations to clarify the dynamics of the events and locate the authors and main perpetrators of the possible threat," the statement added.
The UN Security Council is scheduled to meet today to study the situation in Lebanon, at a time of heightened tension following repeated attacks by the Israeli army on UNFIL bases and Israel's demand that international troops leave their facilities.
The situation in the south of the country worsened on Sunday, when two Israeli Merkava tanks demolished the entrance to a UNFIL position in Ramyah and entered the facilities.
In addition, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent a recorded message to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, in which he once again asked him to evacuate UNFIL bases.
The mandate of UNFIL, a mission created in 1978 and which maintains around 10,000 international troops in Lebanon, is the responsibility of the Security Council.
Before the worsening of the situation of the blue helmets in Lebanon, but already in the presence of incidents involving Israeli forces, the UNIFIL spokesperson challenged, in an interview with Lusa on Thursday, the international community to take more actions than words to avoid a humanitarian disaster and an all-out war in the Middle East, which "would have no winners".
Israel and Hezbollah exchanged fire daily along the Israeli-Lebanese border over the past year, when the Shiite armed group set out in support of its ally Hamas in Palestine, at the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, on October 7, 2023.
In the last half of September, Israel announced that it would shift the focus of its military operations from the Gaza Strip to Lebanon and began a campaign of intense bombings in the south of the country and in the suburbs of the capital, Beirut, killing Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and numerous top members of his hierarchy.
Since the beginning of the month, Israeli forces have launched a ground invasion of southern Lebanon, with the stated aim of neutralizing Hezbollah's ability to carry out air strikes against Israel, where the United Nations' international military contingent is also stationed.
The conflict has already killed more than 2,300 people in Lebanon, most of them in recent weeks, according to Lebanese authorities, and has displaced some 1.2 million residents.
On Wednesday, Benjamin Netanyahu threatened that Israel will continue to "strike Hezbollah without mercy", including in Beirut.
