ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - A French UN peacekeeper was killed by small-arms fire in southern Lebanon's Ghanduriyah on Saturday morning, with French President Emmanuel Macron saying that "everything suggests that responsibility for this attack lies with Hezbollah."

"This morning, a UNIFIL patrol clearing explosive ordnance along a road in the village of Ghanduriyah to re-establish links with isolated UNIFIL positions came under small-arms fire from non-state-actors" the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said in a statement, adding that an initial assessment indicated the fire "allegedly" came from Hezbollah.

"Tragically, one peacekeeper succumbed to his injuries and three others were injured, two of them seriously."

Macron identified the deceased as Sergeant-Chef Florian Montorio of the 17th Parachute Engineer Regiment.

"Everything suggests that responsibility for this attack lies with Hezbollah," he wrote on X. "France demands that the Lebanese authorities immediately arrest the perpetrators and take their responsibilities alongside UNIFIL."

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam strongly condemned the attack and said he had ordered an immediate investigation to determine the circumstances and hold those responsible accountable.

“This irresponsible act causes great harm to Lebanon and its relations with friendly countries that support it around the world,” Salam said.

UNIFIL said deliberate attacks on peacekeepers are “grave violations of international humanitarian law” and may amount to war crimes, urging the Lebanese government to swiftly identify and hold those responsible accountable.

Initially conceived in 1978, UNIFIL was redeployed to Lebanon following the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war and has suffered casualties at the hands of both sides, with the mission having endured 345 fatalaties since its original inception.

In December 2022, Sean Rooney of the Irish Defence Forces was killed when a UNIFIL convoy en route to Beirut International Airport was attacked by Hezbollah militants.