The United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon said on Friday that the Israeli military’s “deliberate and direct destruction” of its property was a “flagrant violation” of international law.

The 10,000-strong UN mission, known as UNIFIL, is stationed in southern Lebanon to monitor hostilities along the “blue line” separating Lebanon from Israel.

Since Israel launched a cross-border ground campaign against Hezbollah fighters in late September, UNIFIL has accused the Israel Defense Forces on several occasions of deliberately attacking its bases, including shooting at peacekeepers and destroying watchtowers.

Israel has denied that such incidents are deliberate attacks. Israel says UN troops provide a human shield for Hezbollah fighters and has asked UNIFIL to evacuate southern Lebanon for its own safety, a request the force has rejected.

In its latest indictment, UNIFIL said the IDF used excavators and a bulldozer to destroy part of a fence and a concrete structure at a UN peacekeeping position in southern Lebanon on Thursday. Peacekeepers this week also observed Israeli troops removing a barrel marking the blue line, he said.

“The IDF’s deliberate and direct destruction of clearly identifiable UNIFIL property is a flagrant violation of international law and resolution 1701,” UNIFIL said, referring to a UN resolution ordering a cessation of hostilities. in southern Lebanon after a previous war.

“Yesterday’s incident, like seven other similar incidents, is not a matter of peacekeepers being caught in the crossfire, but of deliberate and direct actions by the IDF,” UNIFIL said.

He said the U.N. force would remain in Lebanon “despite the unacceptable pressures being placed on the mission.”

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

The statement came a day after six Malaysian peacekeepers on a UN bus crossing a checkpoint were injured by an Israeli drone strike that killed three Lebanese in a nearby car.

On Friday night, a series of Israeli attacks rocked Beirut’s southern suburbs, according to Reuters witnesses, after Israel issued evacuation orders.

The strikes tore down entire buildings in the dense neighborhood that most residents abandoned in recent weeks.

Separately, the Israeli military said it had located a Hezbollah training center about 200 meters from a UNIFIL base in southern Lebanon, equipped with study materials and large quantities of weapons.

He said the facility, which he destroyed, contained launchers prepared to fire on Israeli communities.

A UNIFIL spokesperson said the Israeli military had not shared any information about an alleged Hezbollah facility.

Israel has accused UNIFIL forces of turning a blind eye as Hezbollah built a network of tunnels and other infrastructure near the border with northern Israel for more than a decade, often within sight of its bases.

It says the infrastructure was part of a plan by Hezbollah to carry out an attack against Israel similar to the October 7, 2023 attack on communities in southern Israel by the Palestinian fighting group Hamas.

The UNIFIL spokesperson said that UNIFIL has regularly informed the Security Council about suspicious locations. The UN Security Council has not asked UNIFIL to disarm any non-state armed group, including Hezbollah, the spokesperson said.