Israel attacks UNIFIL posts in south Lebanon, again, as Beirut reels from overnight airstrikes

Israeli forces carried out a second attack on United Nations peacekeepers in southern Lebanon on Friday, injuring personnel from a Sri Lankan peacekeepers base in the area.

Lebanon's foreign ministry said the bombing targeted "watchtowers and the main UNIFIL base in Ras Naqoura" which led to "a number of wounded".

The Israeli military also "fired an artillery shell, targeting the main entrance of the UNIFIL command centre, leading to damage to the entrance", the Lebanese National News Agency reported.

It comes after another attack on another UNIFIL force on Thursday, which injured at least two Indonesian peacekeepers.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called for a probe into the separate attacks, urging the UN to "urgently establish" an international investigation into the incidents.

In New York on Thursday, Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon said Israel "recommends UNIFIL relocate 5 km (3 miles) north to avoid danger as fighting intensifies", in a statement, which appeared to confirm the Israeli military's targeting of the UN peacekeepers. 

In Beirut, residents are still reeling from Israel’s raids on the Lebanese capital on Thursday night, which killed at least 22 people and injured over 100.

The attacks on the neighbourhoods of Basta and Ras al-Nabaa were the third time Israel attacked Beirut proper since it began its intensified aggression on the country, in late September.

Israel launched the strikes without prior evacuation notices as areas not targeted were given warning of an impending attack, causing confusion in the capital.

Israeli media claimed the military targeted the head of Hezbollah's Liaison and Coordination Unit, Wafiq Safa, but is yet to release a statement regarding his fate. A source close to Hezbollah confirmed to media that Safa was the target.

Lebanese outlet L'Orient Le Jour said the neighbourhoods were full of rubble, burned-out cars with everything "covered in dust".

Also on Friday, the Iranian Red Cross said earlier that Israel had struck a field hospital located on the Syrian-Lebanese border, amid Israel's increasingly aggressive approach to countries in the region.

In northern Israel, a 27-year-old Thai national was killed by rocket fire launched from Lebanon, while two others were reportedly wounded, the Magen David Adom said.

Israel's escalation and subsequent invasion of Lebanon has killed over 1,200 people and has gone on to displace over 1.2 million. Multiple calls for a ceasefire have yet to be accepted by Israel.