The United Nations said on Sunday Israeli tanks had burst through the gates of a base of its peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, the latest accusation of Israeli violations and attacks that have been denounced by Israel’s own allies.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the United Nations to evacuate the troops of the UNIFIL peacekeeping force from combat areas in Lebanon. Hours later, the force reported what it described as additional Israeli violations, including two Israeli Merkava tanks destroying the main gate of a base and forcibly entering before dawn that morning.

Soon after the tanks left, shells exploded 100 metres away, releasing smoke which blew across the base and sickened U.N. personnel, causing 15 to require treatment despite wearing gas masks, it said. It did not say who fired the shells or what sort of toxic substance it suspected.

It also accused Israel’s IDF military of halting a logistics convoy. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to the statement.

    • ToastedPlanet@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      2 months ago

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France_and_weapons_of_mass_destruction

      France is one of the five “Nuclear Weapons States” under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, but is not known to possess or develop any chemical or biological weapons.[4][5] France is the only member of the European Union to possess independent (non-NATO) nuclear weapons. France was the fourth country to test an independently developed nuclear weapon, doing so in 1960 under the government of Charles de Gaulle. The French military is currently thought to retain a weapons stockpile of around 300[6] operational (deployed) nuclear warheads, making it the fourth-largest in the world, speaking in terms of warheads, not megatons.[7] The weapons are part of the country’s Force de dissuasion, developed in the late 1950s and 1960s to give France the ability to distance itself from NATO while having a means of nuclear deterrence under sovereign control.

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      2 months ago

      Mechanically it’s a small nuke on a medium range Air to Surface Missile. They straight up told everyone it’s entire purpose is as “the last warning shot” before their nuclear missile submarines fire their entire load of nuclear ballistic missiles.

      The other way I’ve heard the French cold war doctrine reasoned is, “we may not be able to stop the Russians at the Fulda Gap, but we’re all going to be picking through the rubble together this time.”