Alleged Hezbollah Ambush on French Patrol Kills Two Peacekeepers in Lebanon

An ambush blamed on Iran-backed Hezbollah has killed two French peacekeepers and wounded two others after gunmen opened fire on a United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) explosive ordnance disposal team in southern Lebanon on April 18. The attack came one day into a 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

"Everything suggests that responsibility for this attack lies with Hezbollah," French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on X. "France demands that the Lebanese authorities immediately arrest those responsible and assume their responsibilities alongside UNIFIL."

Staff Sgt. Florian Montorio of the 17th Parachute Engineer Regiment from Montauban was killed at the scene by direct small-arms fire. 

Cpl. Anicet Girardin, 31, of the 132nd Cynotechnical Infantry Regiment based in Suippes, was severely wounded and evacuated to France, where he died four days later at a Paris hospital. Macron declared on X that Girardin "died for France."

A national tribute for Montorio was held Wednesday in Montauban, attended by French Armed Forces Minister Catherine Vautrin and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Pierre Schill.

A Close-Range Ambush on a Clearance Mission

The four French soldiers were part of an explosive ordnance disposal team operating under UNIFIL's French contingent. Their mission that Saturday morning was to clear a road in the village of Ghandouriyeh that had been cut off by recent fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, with the goal of restoring access to isolated UNIFIL positions.

Vautrin said on X that the patrol was clearing a route rigged with an improvised explosive device when it was ambushed. Girardin, a specialist dog handler, was among the troops targeted.

"Coming under sustained fire from concealed Hezbollah fighters at very close range, he moved to aid his section leader who had just fallen, only to be seriously hit in turn," she said.

UNIFIL said in an April 18 statement that the patrol "came under small-arms fire from non-state actors" and that its initial assessment pointed to Hezbollah.

The mission condemned what it described as a "deliberate attack on peacekeepers engaged in their mandated tasks" and said the assault amounted to a grave violation of international humanitarian law and U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 that may constitute a war crime.

Hezbollah denied any responsibility for the attack. 

"We deny any connection to us with the incident that occurred with UNIFIL forces in the Ghandouriyeh area in Bint Jbeil," the group said in a statement. 

Israel's military, however, claimed Sunday that Hezbollah had opened fire on the peacekeepers.

In an April 22 follow-up, UNIFIL confirmed that a third peacekeeper who was also seriously injured had been repatriated to Paris and remains under medical care. A fourth soldier sustained minor injuries and has returned to the French UNIFIL base at Dayr Kifa.

Macron spoke by phone with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam after the attack. Aoun issued directives for an immediate investigation. 

"I condemn the assault today on elements of the French battalion in UNIFIL," Salam wrote on X. "I have issued my strict instructions to conduct an immediate investigation to uncover the circumstances of this assault and to hold the perpetrators accountable."

During a Paris visit on Tuesday, Salam said he was personally following the probe "day by day" but that "conditions on the ground were not easy."

"I strongly condemn Saturday's attack on UNIFIL during which one French peacekeeper was killed and another three were injured," U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres wrote on X.

Mounting Losses in the Region

Girardin is the third French service member killed in the region since the broader Middle East conflict began Feb. 28 with coordinated U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran. He is also the fifth UNIFIL peacekeeper killed this year.

Three Indonesian peacekeepers were killed last month in two separate explosions in southern Lebanon. A preliminary U.N. investigation found that one was killed by Israeli tank fire while the other two died when an improvised explosive device, likely planted by Hezbollah, struck a logistics convoy.

A fourth Indonesian peacekeeper, Cpl. Rico Pramudia, died at a Beirut hospital on April 24 from wounds suffered in the March 29 attack. His death, announced just two days Girardin’s, brings the total number of UNIFIL peacekeepers killed this year to six.

The recent French losses occurred only a month after the death of Chief Warrant Officer Arnaud Frion, 42, of the 7th Battalion of Chasseurs Alpins. Frion was killed March 12 when an Iranian Shahed drone struck a military base in Iraq's Kurdistan region where French troops were conducting counterterrorism training. Six other French soldiers were wounded in that attack.

France contributes over 600 troops to UNIFIL, which fields 7,505 peacekeepers from 47 nations along the U.N.-drawn Blue Line separating Lebanon and Israel. The mission was established in 1978 and has operated through successive conflicts. More than 160 French soldiers have been killed in Lebanon since then.

The attack also comes as UNIFIL faces an uncertain future. The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously in August 2025 to terminate the mission's mandate at the end of 2026, with a one-year drawdown to follow. The United States and Israel had pushed to end the force, arguing that Lebanon should assume sole security responsibility in the south.

Macron, however, signaled that France intends to stay. 

"France is also ready to maintain its commitment on the ground after the scheduled departure of UNIFIL at the end of the year," he wrote in his April 22 statement announcing Girardin's death.