President Emmanuel Macron announced on Wednesday that a second French soldier has died following an attack on United Nations peacekeepers in Lebanon last week. Macron stated that the attack was carried out by Iran-backed Hezbollah.
Staff Sergeant Florian Montorio was shot dead during the ambush on Saturday, April 18. Chief Corporal Anicet Girardin, who was severely wounded in the same attack, died on Wednesday. Girardin was one of three troops injured in the incident.
Hezbollah has denied responsibility for the ambush. The soldiers were part of UNIFIL, a peacekeeping mission established in 1978. The mission consists of more than 10,000 peacekeepers from 50 countries who patrol the Blue Line, the UN-drawn border between Lebanon and Israel.