Indonesia receives bodies of peacekeepers killed in southern Lebanon 

Indonesia has received the bodies of three United Nations peacekeepers who were killed in southern Lebanon during Israel’s invasion of the country, amid the ongoing United States-Israel war on Iran.

The coffins of the killed soldiers arrived in Indonesia on Saturday. They were carried on the shoulders of uniformed officers for a ceremony attended by President Prabowo Subianto.

After the ceremony, Foreign Minister Sugiono told reporters that Indonesia wants a thorough UN investigation into the deaths of the peacekeepers who were part of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

“This is a peacekeeping mission. Incidents such as this should not happen,” the minister told reporters at the airport.

“There must be a security guarantee for peacekeeping soldiers,” he added.

Last week, peacekeeper Farizal Rhomadhon, 28, was killed after a projectile exploded. A UN security source told the AFP news agency anonymously on Tuesday that fire from an Israeli tank was responsible for the attack.

A day later, two more Indonesian peacekeepers, Zulmi Aditya Iskandar, 33, and Muhammad Nur Ichwan, 26, were killed after an explosion struck a UNIFIL logistics convoy in southern Lebanon.

Iskandar’s father said he was shocked that peacekeepers were losing their lives in the conflict.

“We were really sad and regretful, because this is a UN troop, a peacekeeping troop, not deployed for war,” Iskandarudin, 60, told reporters at his house in West Java province.

The three men are expected to be laid to rest on Sunday, and the government has promised financial support for the families.

On Friday, UNIFIL announced that three peacekeepers were wounded after a blast at a UN facility near Adeisse and were taken to hospital.

The UN information centre in Jakarta said the “origin of the explosion” was unknown, but identified the injured soldiers as Indonesian.

“Repeated attacks or incidents of this kind are unacceptable,” the Indonesian foreign ministry said in a statement.

The government urged the UN Security Council “to immediately convene a meeting of troop-contributing countries to UNIFIL to conduct a review and take measures to enhance the protection of personnel serving with UNIFIL”.

The US-Israel war on Iran spread to Lebanon after Iran-aligned Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel, following the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the first day of the war on February 28.

Israel has bombarded the country for weeks and launched an invasion, with Israeli officials saying the mission intends to set up a security zone extending 30km (18.6 miles) from the Israeli border.