NAQOURA (Lebanon), April 4: Six United Nations observers in southern Lebanon were beaten up by members of the Hezbollah militia, the commander of UN peacekeeping forces in the region said on Thursday.

General Lalit Tiware, head of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), said they included a Frenchman, an Irishman and two Norwegians belonging to the Lebanon Observer Group, and two Indian UNIFIL soldiers who had come to their aid.

He said at a press conference that he had received a phone call from a Hezbollah commander assuring him that such incidents would not be repeated.

Tiware added that he had informed the UN Secretary General’s Middle East envoy Terje Roed-Larsen of the incident, which the head of UNIFIL’s Indian contingent, Colonel Amol Aftana, described as “very serious.”

Tiware said the four members of the observer group, part of the UN Truce Supervision Organisation (UNTSO) which monitors a ceasefire line between Israel and Syria, were on patrol in the UNIFIL operational area when they were seized and “badly beaten” by Hezbollah militiamen.

Indian UNIFIL troops who came to the rescue grappled with the militia, he added, praising their firm reaction.

Tiware also said he had been assured personally by Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hairiri that there would be no repetition.

The incident took place near the village of Shebaa, opposite the Shebaa Farms, a disputed border area.—AFP