Lebanese and UN Troops Rescue Migrants Vessel, 2 Killed

Lebanese army on their dinghy, rescue migrants from a boat sinking in the Mediterranean Sea, near the shores of Tripoli, north Lebanon, on Dec. 31, 2022. Lebanese Army Website via AP

BEIRUT—Lebanon’s navy and U.N. peacekeepers on Saturday rescued more than 200 migrants from a boat sinking in the Mediterranean Sea hours after it left northern Lebanon’s coast, the military said in a statement. Two migrants were killed in the incident.

The army statement said the vessel was carrying people “who were trying to illegally leave Lebanon’s territorial waters.” It said three Lebanese navy boats and one from the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, recused 232 migrants.