Published: 11:30, March 30, 2026
Israeli shelling hits UN peacekeepers' Indonesian unit HQ in southern Lebanon
By Xinhua

This picture taken from the southern Lebanese area of Marjeyoun on March 29, 2026 shows smoke as it rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the outskirts of the village of Yohmor. (PHOTO/AFP)

BEIRUT/JERUSALEM - Israeli artillery shelling targeted the headquarters of the Indonesian unit serving with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in the southern village of Adshit al-Qusayr on Sunday, according to Lebanon's National News Agency and local media reports.

Preliminary reports said there were injuries among UNIFIL personnel, while UNIFIL helicopters were seen heading to the targeted site following the shelling, the media reported.

The attack comes amid continued exchanges of fire along the Lebanon-Israel border and rising tensions in southern Lebanon.

UNIFIL has not yet issued an official statement on the incident.

ALSO READ: Israel expands ground offensive in Lebanon, deploys additional division

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed the military on Sunday to widen what Israel refers to as a "security buffer zone" in southern Lebanon, as Israeli forces expanded their ground offensive.

"We are determined to change the situation in the north fundamentally," Netanyahu said in a video statement from the Northern Command base near the Lebanese border.

Israel uses the term to describe an area seized by its troops inside Lebanese territory, a designation not recognized internationally or by Lebanon.

Since fighting with Hezbollah began in October 2023, Israel has established at least five positions in southern Lebanon. It has not withdrawn from them even after a ceasefire was announced in November 2024. After hostilities resumed in early March amid the war with Iran, Israeli ground forces entered southern Lebanon and have been advancing toward the Litani River.

ALSO READ: Netanyahu: Israel creating expanded 'buffer zone' in S. Lebanon

Netanyahu said the move was part of a broader effort to establish three "buffer zones" around Israel: in Syria, where Israeli forces have seized territory from the top of Mount Hermon to the Yarmouk; in Gaza, where, he said, troops have converted "more than half" of the Palestinian enclave into a "buffer zone"; and in Lebanon, where he said he had instructed to expand the existing zone to thwart infiltration by Hezbollah.

All three are not internationally recognized.

"I said we will change the face of the Middle East, and we did," he said. "We initiate; we attack."

A total of 49 people were killed and 116 injured on Sunday, bringing the death toll to 1,238 and the number of wounded to 3,543 since the escalation of hostilities on March 2, Lebanon's Disaster Risk Management Unit at the prime minister's office said.

READ MORE: Israel begins ground operations against Hezbollah strongholds in S. Lebanon

In its daily report on Sunday, the unit said the number of hostile incidents recorded so far has reached 4,401, with 663 shelters across the country housing 136,147 displaced people and 35,170 families.