LAST week, Israeli soldiers fired at an outpost of United Nations peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, wounding two of them. Three other Blue Helmets were wounded in a similar incident days earlier.

The peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil), has accused the Israeli military of "deliberately" firing on its positions.

In 2006, the UN deployed a multinational force of 9,500 troops to monitor a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that ended 33 days of fighting.

Now the peacekeepers find themselves caught in the middle of the fierce fighting between the arch-enemies.

The Israeli government had confirmed the incident and promised to investigate. Its reply, however, has not staved off a diplomatic backlash. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres branded the incidents as a violation of international humanitarian law.

Forty nations that contribute to the Unifil said in a joint statement that "such actions must stop immediately and should be adequately investigated."

The United States had a less vocal response. President Joe Biden said he was "absolutely, positively urging" Israel to refrain from shooting at UN peacekeepers.

The tepid reaction is not surprising. The US has always maintained that Israel's war against Hezbollah is justified because it has the right to defend itself.

Assured of Biden's ironclad support (last August, the US approved a $20-billion arms sale to Israel), Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gained the impetus to confront its enemies on several fronts. After a full-scale invasion and occupation of Gaza aimed at decimating Hamas, the Israel Defense Forces has rained down missiles and bombs on the Lebanese capital Beirut and launched a ground offensive against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

Israel is also preparing a major air assault on Iran, with nuclear facilities and oil fields as possible targets.

Netanyahu's decision to unleash Israel's military might on its foes has stoked fears that the Middle East could be thrust into another region-wide war.

Since it proclaimed its birth as a state in 1948, Israel has waged a series of wars against its Arab neighbors. In 1967, it carried out pre-emptive strikes against Egypt, which had formed an alliance with Jordan, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. In just six days, the smaller but better prepared and equipped Israeli army brought the Arab forces to their knees.

In 1973, the Arabs tried to strike back during the Yom Kippur War, fought mostly in the Sinai Peninsula. Again Israel prevailed, but only narrowly after the US provided it with the arms and military hardware.

Washington's hand was forced because it did not want the Soviet Union, which was cozying up to the Arabs, to gain a foothold in the region.

Pocket conflicts continued to break out, but none serious enough to bring the Middle East to a boil.

The Hamas attacks on Israel border communities on October 7 last year threaten to once again heat up the region.

Israel retaliated with a savagery that has left most of Gaza a wasteland and its people languishing in a humanitarian crisis.

Lebanon looms as the next Gaza. The UN is warning of a similar humanitarian catastrophe in Beirut and southern Lebanon as the fighting intensifies.

"We see an enormous tragedy in Lebanon, and we must do everything to avoid an all-out war in Lebanon," Guterres has said.

The attacks on the Blue Helmets further complicate the situation. Unifil said its mission has been compromised because of the damage it sustained from the attacks. Israel is showing that it will stop at nothing to achieve its objective to wipe out Hezbollah.

The dreaded scenario is of Blue Helmets being killed in a misencounter with Israeli forces. As the conflict intensifies, the chances of that situation being played out increase.

A US-led bloc of 12 nations is calling for a 21-day ceasefire in Lebanon "to provide space for diplomacy towards the conclusion of a diplomatic settlement" and a truce in Gaza.

They said the fighting has become "intolerable" and presents an "unacceptable risk of a broader regional escalation."

The call for a ceasefire must not be drowned out by the drums of war that Israel continues to beat.

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