Jakarta. “Zulmi Aditya Iskandar, major infantry, 33 years young.”

“Muhammad Nur Ichwan, first sergeant, 25 years young.”

“Farizal Rhomadhon, corporal, 27 years young.”

Indonesia honored the fallen peacekeepers on Tuesday local time as Jakarta addressed an emergency UN Security Council meeting in New York with the Israeli representative in the same room. 

Indonesian Permanent Representative to the UN in New York Umar Hadi took the floor after his Israeli counterpart Danny Danon. The UN Security Council, the organization’s premier decision-making body, held an emergency session after three Indonesian blue helmets were killed in southern Lebanon. Their deaths, which were less than 24 hours apart, occurred amidst fierce clashes between Israeli forces and the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

In the early part of his 9-minute remark, Umar read aloud the names of the peacekeeper casualties over the past two days. The blue helmets were serving the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), the peacekeeping mission to which Jakarta had contributed 755 soldiers.

“Let me begin by honoring the memory of the fallen soldiers of peace by calling their names in this August Chamber,” Umar told the broadcast briefing.

Umar kept referring to their age by using the term “young” instead of the usual “old”, as these soldiers could have many years ahead. Indonesia — a populous country that provides the biggest UNIFIL contingent — also did not forget to mention the five wounded comrades by name. 

“Captain Sulthan Wirdean Maulana, Corporal Rico Pramudia, Corporal Arif Kurniawan, Corporal Bayu Prakoso, Cadet Private Deni Rianto. These peacekeepers fell and were wounded while carrying out a mandate entrusted to them by this very council.”

Farizal was the first UNIFIL casualty in the consecutive days of deadly attacks. At the time of the incident, Farizal was on duty near the mission’s post near the town of Adchit Al-Qusayr. A projectile fell on the UNIFIL position, killing Farizal and injuring his three comrades: Rico, Bayu, and Arif. 

Zulmi and Ichwan had died when an explosion of unknown origin destroyed their convoy vehicle the next morning. The vehicle was driving near Bani Haiyyan. Sulthan and Deni had sustained wounds from the convoy attack.

“We demand an investigation by the UN, not excuses from Israel,” Umar said. 

He then concluded Indonesia’s statement with “no more attacks”.

Jakarta’s statement came just shortly after Israel’s Danon blamed both blasts on Hezbollah. Danon expressed condolences over the deaths of the peacekeepers without mentioning their Indonesian nationality.

“Israel did not choose this conflict. Hezbollah did, when it began firing on our communities, claiming to avenge the death of the Iranian regime’s supreme leader [Ali Khamenei],” Danon said.

Danon was referring to the March 2 attack, which Hezbollah had carried out to retaliate against Khamenei’s death. A US-Israeli military campaign had fired surprise airstrikes on Tehran at the end of February, assassinating Khamenei.

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