Israeli military appears to have deliberately targeted UN peacekeeping watchtower in Lebanon which left a Spanish UN peacekeeper dead back in January, a confidential military report said, citing testimonies from peacekeeper’s colleagues, RT reported on Monday.
Corporal Francisco Javier Soria Toledo, a Spanish soldier serving as a member of United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon UNIFIL was killed in the exchange of hostilities between Lebanese group Hezbollah and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) along the Israeli-Lebanese border on January 28. IDF shelled the area after Hezbollah attack that killed two Israeli soldiers.
“Every time, they [Israelis] corrected the trajectory from Majidiye [location] to the 4-28” post, where the UNIFIL peacekeepers were stationed,” Corporal Ivan Lopez Sanchez, who was stationed nearby, told Spanish investigators, according to El Pais newspaper which saw the report.
The paper published the testimony of another Spanish soldier, Sergeant Julio Xavier Garcia, who said that shells initially fell about 500 meters north of the UN post and then they “corrected the trajectory towards the position.” Garcia added that he took cover along the watchtower “to clearly see it was a fixed shot” and that “falling projectiles were getting closer.”
According to the report, the Israeli army fired on the area at least 118 artillery shells, 90 mortar grenades and five projectiles between 11:48 am and 1:43 pm local time.
