Netanyahu urges withdrawal of UNIFIL peacekeeping Force to avoid colateral damage

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has urged the United Nations to withdraw its UNIFIL peacekeeping force from southern Lebanon. Mr Netanyahu claimed that the presence of UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) forces in southern Lebanon makes them hostages of Hezbollah, the Lebanese armed group and political party with which Israel has been engaged in conflict since last



October. 

He has expressed regret over the incident last week in which Israeli forces injured two UNIFIL soldiers in southern Lebanon. On Friday, UNIFIL condemned the attack on peacekeepers as a grave violation of international humanitarian law and Security Council Resolution 1701, stating that such incidents place UN peacekeepers in extremely grave danger