Second French soldier dies of wounds sustained in Hezbollah attack on UN peacekeepers

Macron says Cpl. Anicet Girardin succumbed to injuries in France after being hit by gunfire in attack on base in south Lebanon last week

A second French soldier has died of wounds suffered in a weekend ambush against UN peacekeepers in Lebanon blamed on Hezbollah, French President Emmanuel Macron announced Wednesday.

“Corporal Anicet Girardin… brought home yesterday from Lebanon, where he was badly wounded by Hezbollah fighters, died this morning of the consequences of his wounds,” Macron posted on X.

Another French soldier, Staff Sergeant Florian Montorio, was killed in the attack on April 18, which occurred when the UNIFIL peacekeepers were clearing unexploded ordnance in a village in southern Lebanon.

Three other troops, including Girardin, were wounded in the incident, with one more described as being in serious condition.

Girardin, a member of a specialist dog-handling unit, was part of a mission “to clear a route booby-trapped with an improvised explosive device,” Armies Minister Catherine Vautrin posted on X.

“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 added.

Macron and Vautrin offered their condolences to Girardin’s family and loved ones.

He is the third French soldier to die since the start of the recent round of fighting in the Middle East, after Montorio and the killing of Arnaud Frion last month by an Iranian drone in Iraq’s Kurdistan region.

Both Macron and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres have blamed Iran-backed Hezbollah for the Saturday attack on peacekeepers belonging to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

French soldiers in UNIFIL “are working bravely and determinedly in service of France and peace in Lebanon,” Macron wrote.

While France and the UN leader named Hezbollah in their statements on the attack on the peacekeepers, UNIFIL itself refrained from doing so explicitly, instead blaming “non-state actors,” code for the Iran-backed terror group.

Hezbollah has denied any involvement, expressing its “surprise at positions that rushed to make baseless accusations” against the group.

During a visit to Paris on Tuesday, Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said he was personally following the investigation into the incident.

“I have instructed the police force to carry out all necessary inquiries in order to identify those responsible and bring them to justice,” he said.

France, which has deep historical ties to Lebanon, has about 700 troops as part of the UNIFIL mission.

Girardin’s death adds to the growing toll of UNIFIL troops killed recently in southern Lebanon. Three Indonesian peacekeepers were killed last month, with a preliminary UN investigation finding one was killed by Israeli tank fire, while the two others were killed by an improvised explosive device likely planted by Hezbollah.

Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East conflict on March 2 when Tehran-backed Hezbollah attacked Israel to avenge the death of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei, with Israel responding by firing waves of strikes at Hezbollah targets and launching a ground offensive. A 10-day ceasefire was declared by the US last week, following direct talks in Washington between Israeli and Lebanese envoys, and Beirut is currently pushing for an extension of the truce to allow for further negotiations.

UNIFIL is stationed in southern Lebanon to monitor hostilities along the border. The mission, which will be halted at the end of 2026, has been sporadically caught in the crosshairs of both Israel and Hezbollah over the last few years.

Israel has long argued that the observer force has failed in its mission, doing little to block Hezbollah from building up its forces near the Israeli border over the decades.