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Casualties Among Peacekeepers
Breakdown of the casualties during the Ghandouriyeh ambush.
Primary Sources
French soldier killed in Lebanon in attack on UN peacekeepers
A French soldier was killed and three others were wounded in an attack on UN peacekeepers on Saturday, President Emmanuel Macron announced, saying that the evidence suggested Hezbollah was responsible. The militant group has denied involvement. Issued on: 18/04/2026 - 14:44Modified: 18/04/2026 - 15:40 2 min Reading time Macron named the soldier as Florian Montorio, a staff sergeant in the 17th Parachute Engineer Regiment of Montauban serving with Unifil, the United Nations' peacekeeping mission in Lebanon. He was killed on Saturday morning in southern Lebanon, the president said in a post on X. The three soldiers wounded in the same attack were evacuated, he added. "Everything suggests that Hezbollah is responsible for this attack," Macron said. "France demands that the Lebanese authorities immediately arrest the perpetrators and assume their responsibilities alongside Unifil." But Hezbollah denied any connection to the attack. In a statement, the group urged "caution in making judgments and assigning responsibilities" pending the results of an investigation by the Lebanese army. The attack came on the second full day of a 10-day ceasefire, agreed between Israel and Hezbollah on Thursday in order to negotiate an end to six weeks of war. Macron's office said he held calls with Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun and Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam to urge them to guarantee the security of Unifil soldiers. Both Aoun and Salam condemned the attack. The prime minister said he had ordered an "immediate investigation". France's Macron says fragile Lebanon ceasefire 'may already be undermined' Ambush Montorio is the second French soldier to die since the start of the war in the Middle East, after an Iranian-designed drone killed Arnaud Frion last month in Iraq's Kurdistan region. Montorio was "ambushed by an armed group at very close range", according to French Defence Minister Catherine Vautrin. She said he had been on a mission to clear a route to a Unifil post Deir-Kifa region that had been cut off for several days by fighting. He was struck by direct fire, Vautrin said, paying tribute to his 18 years of military service. In a statement, Unifil said the peacekeepers "came under small-arms fire from non-state-actors" as they were clearing ordnance from a road in the village of Ghanduriyah. Its initial assessment indicates the incoming fire was "allegedly Hezbollah", it said, adding that it had launched its own investigation into what "may amount to war crimes...
French soldier serving with UNIFIL killed in Lebanon attack
The deadly incident comes just days after Israel and Lebanon announced a 10-day ceasefire.A French soldier serving with the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon has been killed, and three others were wounded in an attack that UNIFIL and French officials said was likely carried out by Hezbollah.Three other members of the peacekeeping mission were wounded in the attack in the village of Ghandouriyeh in southern Lebanon, UNIFIL said on Saturday, two of them seriously.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Iran has learned that the Strait of Hormuz is its strongest deterrentlist 2 of 3As oil prices plunge below $91 after weeks, a new Hormuz crisis emergeslist 3 of 3US blockade of Iran needs to end before the Strait of Hormuz is fully reopeend of listUNIFIL noted that initial assessments indicated they came from non-state actors, allegedly Hezbollah, and that an investigation had been launched into what it called “a deliberate attack”.In calls with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the “unacceptable attack”, his office said in a statement on Saturday.Macron also said the evidence so far pointed to the Lebanese armed group and urged the Lebanese government to act against those responsible.The Iran-aligned armed group rejected the allegations, calling for “exercising caution in issuing judgements regarding the incident”.“We deny any connection to us with the incident that occurred with UNIFIL forces in the Ghandouriyeh area in Bint Jbeil,” Hezbollah said in a statement.French Armed Forces Minister Catherine Vautrin said the patrol was ambushed while on a mission to open a route to a UNIFIL post that had been isolated by fighting in the area. The soldier was killed by direct small-arms fire, she said.Lebanon’s army condemned the shooting and said it had opened an investigation.President Aoun has also offered condolences and ordered an immediate probe, while Prime Minister Salam condemned the attack.Fragile ceasefireThe deadly incidents come just days after an Israel-Lebanon 10-day ceasefire took effect and days before a truce in the United States-Israel war on Iran was set to expire.Lebanon was drawn into the war in early March after Hezbollah fired rockets towards Israel in response to the US-Israeli killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on February 28. Israel responded with a devastating bombing campaign and a ground invasion that killed more than 2,000 people and f...
French peacekeeper killed in southern Lebanon - BBC
A French peacekeeper has been killed and three others wounded after a UN patrol came under fire in southern Lebanon, in what officials described as a deliberate attack. The soldier was serving ...
French soldier killed in attack on U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon
PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron said a French soldier was killed and three others injured on Saturday morning in an attack on U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon. "Everything ...
