Israel has criticized the United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon for failure to detect or prevent the planting of land mines that threaten Israeli troops.
Three Israel Defense Force soldiers were injured by land mines last Friday, and two Merkava tanks and a tank transporter were damaged by mine explosions.
Maj. Gen. Yossi Peled, head of the IDF Northern Command, lodged a formal protest with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon after an inspection Sunday of the area where the mines detonated.
The mines were planted less than 200 yards from a post manned by members of UNIFIL’s Irish battalion, in the vicinity of Beit Yahoun village, in the southern Lebanon security zone.
Amal, the mainstream Shi’ite militia in Lebanon, has claimed responsibility.
Peled charged that the Irish soldiers should have seen the mine-laying but apparently preferred to turn a blind eye to anti-Israel activities.
The IDF has a long record of friction with UNIFIL, which it has frequently accused of failing to interdict illegal armed forces passing through the region it is supposed to secure.
A senior UNIFIL source acknowledged that the mines were laid close to the Irish outpost. He insisted, however, that poor visibility due to rain and mist prevented the soldiers from seeing a distance of 200 yards.
The source said UNIFIL is as much concerned as Israel about land mines, because it uses the same roads as the IDF to bring in supplies.
The IDF, meanwhile, is investigating how the mines got on roads that presumably had been swept for them.
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