UN guard tower in southern Lebanon
Photo: EPA
VIDEO: UN peacekeepers capture IDF artillery strike
Footage documents the Israeli shell fired into Lebanese territory which killed Spanish soldier Cpl. Francisco Javier Soria Toledo.
A video clip published Friday by Spanish news site Libertad documents the artillery attack on Lebanese territory in which a Spanish UN peacekeeper was killed.
The footage, captured on cellular phone, shows two UN peacekeepers sitting in a vehicle across from a guard tower, where Cpl. Francisco Javier Soria Toledo was stationed when he died.
VIDEO: IDF artillery strike in Lebanese territory
The UNIFIL peacekeepers in the vehicle hear the initial whistling of the first artillery shell and moments later see a shell slam into the ground. One of the shell's fragments likely flew towards the guard tower in which the 36-year-old Toledo sat, killing the Spanish soldier.
One of the peacekeepers in the clip is heard saying, "It cannot be that this was from Israel." His friend responds, moments before the shell hit: "It sounds like fire from an area under Hezbollah control."
The IDF retaliatory artillery followed Hezbollah's Wednesday attack on Mount Dov, in which Major Yochai Kalangel and Staff-Sgt. Dor Nini were killed. After the incident, the IDF opened fire on Lebanese territory and the Israeli Air Force executed several flyovers the country's southern section, where Hezbollah holds power.
Spain called on the UN to open an investigation into Toledo's death immediately. Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy Brey confirmed the death of the Spanish soldier in Lebanon and said in a Twitter message that he sent his condolences to the soldier's family.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman spoke with Spain’s Foreign Minister José Manuel García-Margallo on Wednesday and relayed his condolences on the death of Toledo.
Lieberman told the Spanish foreign minister that Hezbollah was responsible for the events that occurred on Wednesday and that Israel finds Lebanon responsible for all terror activities that stem from within its territory.
The UN peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) has been deployed in south Lebanon since 1978. The UN force has more than 10,000 troops in Lebanon, 600 of them Spaniards, after it increased its force following the end of the 2006 Second Lebanon War.
Itamar Eichner, Reuters, and AFP contributed to this report.
