All posts tagged: peacekeeping

French UNIFIL soldier killed in Lebanon, Hezbollah responsible, says Macron

French UNIFIL soldier killed in Lebanon, Hezbollah responsible, says Macron

Published by Sam Flores

A UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon came under attack with small arms fire Saturday morning, leaving one French peacekeeper dead and three wounded, two of them seriously, French President Emmanuel Macron and the force known as UNIFIL said. Both Macron and the UNIFIL blamed Hezbollah, but the militant group denied involvement.  The attack near the southern Lebanese village of Ghandouriyeh came after a 10-day ceasefire went into effect at midnight Thursday between Israel and Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group. Read moreMiddle East war live: French UNIFIL soldier killed in Lebanon, Hezbollah responsible, says Macron The latest Israel-Hezbollah war began on March 2 when the Iran-backed group launched rockets into Israel after the US and Israel attacked Iran, killing top officials including the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.  The war, in which Israel invaded parts of Lebanon, left nearly 2,300 people dead in Lebanon, more than 1 million people displaced and caused wide destruction.  “Everything suggests that responsibility for this attack lies with Hezbollah,” French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on social media. “France demands that the …

Strong support in Pakistan for Gaza peacekeeping force but questions linger | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Strong support in Pakistan for Gaza peacekeeping force but questions linger | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Published by Sam Flores

Islamabad, Pakistan – A new survey indicates nearly three-quarters of Pakistanis support deploying troops to the Gaza Strip as part of an International Stabilisation Force (ISF). The findings of the poll by Gallup Pakistan come as media reports suggested Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will attend the first formal meeting of United States President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace (BoP) on February 19, a body Pakistan joined alongside several other Muslim-majority countries last month. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list The Gallup poll, conducted from January 15 to February 3, surveyed 1,600 respondents through random telephone interviews. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 to 3 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level. According to Bilal Gilani, executive director of Gallup Pakistan, the results paint a picture of a nation deeply engaged with the Palestinian cause yet divided on how best to pursue it and uncertain about the political structures being built around Gaza’s future. The ISF was proposed along with Trump’s BoP in September on the sidelines of the United …

Merz plays down Weber’s idea of a European peacekeeping army in Ukraine – POLITICO

Merz plays down Weber’s idea of a European peacekeeping army in Ukraine – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

 “We must focus on the tasks at hand right now,” Merz replied, when asked about Weber’s initiatives. The chancellor added he had no problem with “us repeatedly asking institutional questions” on making Europe more powerful and united, and stressed that “these are questions that need to be discussed again and again.” However, Merz showed little appetite for getting bogged down in the sweeping European reforms that Weber’s proposals could require. “Achieving treaty changes in this European Union of 27 is a rather difficult task,’ the chancellor said. “I advocate that we first and foremost concentrate on the tasks that are now on the table.” He said those were improving defense capabilities and the continent’s flagging industrial competitiveness. While Merz was cool on Weber’s proposals about a European army, his government has still to decide on its commitment to German peacekeepers in Ukraine. While Berlin is not as forward as Britain and France in raising the possibility of providing peacekeepers, Merz has insisted: “We are not ruling anything out in principle.” Germany also stresses it is …

Russia hits Ukraine with hypersonic missile after rejecting peacekeeping plan

Russia hits Ukraine with hypersonic missile after rejecting peacekeeping plan

Published by Sam Flores

KYIV: Russia hit Ukraine with its hypersonic Oreshnik missile overnight after rejecting the latest post-war peacekeeping plan, as part of a massive attack that set apartment blocks ablaze and killed at least four people in the capital Kyiv. Ukraine and its Western allies, scrambling to bring an end to the war as it approaches the four-year mark, agreed this week that Europe would deploy troops after any ceasefire. But Moscow, which says it launched its February 2022 invasion in part to prevent an expansion of the NATO defence treaty, has repeatedly rejected the idea of any Western forces stationed in Ukraine. Such troops would be “considered legitimate military targets”, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned on Thursday (Jan 8), branding Ukraine and its American and European allies an “axis of war”. As diplomats wrangle for a breakthrough in what has been Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II, Russia has continued to press forward with its assault, bombarding Ukraine daily. Russia’s defence ministry said it had used the Oreshnik hypersonic missile on “strategic targets” …