President Macron Announces One More French UNIFIL Soldier Killed on Duty in Lebanon

JAKARTA - President Emmanuel Macron announced the death of a second French soldier serving in a United Nations (UN) peacekeeping mission in Lebanon on Wednesday, blaming the militant group Hezbollah.

The soldier, whom President Macron referred to as Corporal Anicet Girardin, died of the wounds he suffered as a result of an ambush by the Hezbollah group last weekend.

"Corporal Anicet Girardin, who was repatriated yesterday from Lebanon, where he was seriously wounded by Hezbollah fighters, died this morning from his wounds," Macron wrote on X, as reported by Al Arabiya from AFP (23/4).

As previously reported, one French UNIFIL personnel was killed and three others were injured, two of whom were seriously injured, as a result of an attack with light weapons on Saturday (18/4), quoted from The Associated Press.

The attack near the village of Ghandouriyeh in southern Lebanon came after a 10-day ceasefire took effect at midnight Thursday between Israel and Hezbollah.

The French soldier killed in the attack was Staff Sergeant Florian Montorio. The Hezbollah group denied its involvement in the attack.

One of three soldiers wounded in the same attack, Girardin, a member of a special dog handling unit, was part of a mission "to clear a route strewn with landmines with improvised explosive devices," wrote Armed Forces Minister Catherine Vautrin on X.

"Hit by continuous fire from Hezbollah fighters hiding at very close range, he moved to help his newly killed sex leader, only to be hit by serious fire as well," he added.

President Macron and Vautrin expressed their condolences to Girardin's family and loved ones.

Both President Macron and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres blamed Iran-backed Hezbollah for Saturday's attack on peacekeepers of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

French soldiers in UNIFIL "work courageously and with determination to serve France and peace in Lebanon," President Macron wrote.

It is known that Girardin is the third French soldier to die since the start of the latest conflict in the Middle East last February, after Montorio and the death of Arnaud Frion last month by an Iranian drone in the Iraqi Kurdistan region.

The Israeli and US attacks on the capital Tehran and a number of cities in Iran that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several other senior officials on February 28, led to a new escalation in the Middle East.

Iran retaliated by carrying out attacks on Israeli territory, as well as targeting various US-related facilities in neighboring countries, restricting traffic in the Strait of Hormuz.

Previously, the death of the French soldier, three TNI soldiers who joined UNIFIL, Major Inf. (Anm) Zulmi, Serka (Anm) Nur Ichwan and Kopda (Anm) Farizal Rhomadhon were killed in two separate incidents on March 29-30.

Until the event that killed the TNI soldier, the number of UNIFIL personnel who died as a result of evil acts has reached 97 people since the mission began in March 1978, quoted from Euronews.

In total, more than 330 UNIFIL personnel have died while on duty, the highest number of casualties of any UN peacekeeping operation.