Lebanon: Eight Austrian peacekeepers injured by rocket strike on Camp Naqoura

Eight Austrian soldiers belonging to the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) sustained superficial injuries in a rocket strike on Camp Naqoura near Israel, Austria’s Defence Ministry said.

UNIFIL is stationed in southern Lebanon to monitor hostilities along the demarcation line with Israel, an area that has seen fierce clashes this month between Israeli troops and Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters.

“We condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms and demand that it be investigated immediately,” the ministry said in a statement, adding that it was not clear where the attack came from and none of the soldiers needed urgent medical care.

Austria contributes about 180 soldiers to the 10,000-strong force. They are part of a “Multi Role Logistic Unit” that performs roles like transporting goods and personnel, repairing vehicles, supplying fuel and firefighting.

UNIFIL said earlier this month it had come under several “deliberate” attacks by Israeli forces and efforts to help civilians in villages in the war zone were being hampered by Israeli shelling.

Israel says UN forces provide a human shield for Hezbollah and has told UNIFIL to evacuate peacekeepers from southern Lebanon for their own safety - a request that it has refused.

Five peacekeepers had already been injured since the start of Israeli ground operation in Lebanon on October 1. UNIFIL positions have been affected at least 20 times, including by direct fire and an incident on October 13 when two Israeli tanks burst through the gates of a UNIFIL base, according to the UN.

Israel has ramped up its air strikes across Lebanon over the last month, saying it is targeting Hezbollah. Lebanese officials, rights groups and residents of affected towns say the strikes are indiscriminate.

Earlier on Tuesday, Hezbollah named Naim Qassem as its new leader, but Israel said his tenure would be “temporary”, an apparent threat after it killed his predecessor Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut over a month ago.

“Temporary appointment. Not for long,” Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant posted on X with a photo of Qassem.

Earlier, Iran-backed Hezbollah said in a written statement that its Shura Council had elected Qassem, 71, in accordance with its established mechanism for choosing a secretary general.

Qassem was appointed as Hezbollah’s deputy chief in 1991 by the armed group’s then-secretary general Abbas al-Musawi, who was killed by an Israeli helicopter attack the following year.

Qassem remained in his role when Nasrallah became leader, and has long been one of Hezbollah’s leading spokesmen, conducting interviews with foreign media, including while cross-border hostilities with Israel raged over the last year.

Nasrallah was killed on September 27 in an Israeli air attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs, known as Dahiyeh, and senior Hezbollah figure Hashem Safieddine - considered the most likely successor - was killed in Israeli strikes a week later.

Since Nasrallah’s killing, Qassem has given three televised addresses, including one on October 8 in which he said the armed group supported efforts to reach a ceasefire for Lebanon.

He is considered by many in Lebanon to lack the charisma and gravitas of Nasrallah.

In its official Arabic account on X, the Israeli government said: “His tenure in this position may be the shortest in the history of this terrorist organisation if he follows in the footsteps of his predecessors Hassan Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine.”

“There is no solution in Lebanon except to dismantle this organisation as a military force.”