New York, 14 October 2024 (dpa/MIA) - UN peacekeepers will remain in southern Lebanon and attacks on them is a violation of international law that could be a war crime, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Sunday.

His comments came after the shelling of UN peacekeepers (UNIFIL) in Lebanon during clashes between Israeli soldiers and the Islamist Hezbollah militia.

He stated, through a spokesman in New York, that the personnel and positions of the UNIFIL troops stationed in Lebanon must never be deliberately targeted. UNIFIL is the UN's Interim Force in Lebanon.

"Attacks against peacekeepers are in breach of international law, including international humanitarian law," he said via the spokesman's statement. "They may constitute a war crime."

In response to the call by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to withdraw UNIFIL troops from the combat zones, Guterres said the UNIFIL peacekeeping force remains at its bases in southern Lebanon, "and the UN flag continues to fly."