Government spokesman Fahmi Fadzil said the Cabinet discussed the incident at a meeting today, adding that Israel’s actions were unacceptable. Fahmi also slammed Israel’s repeated strikes on Lebanon since September.

“The Malaysian government strongly condemns the actions of the cruel, Zionist Israeli regime. This cannot be accepted.

“In terms of planning after this, all actions will be referred to the defence ministry,” he told a press conference here.

Earlier, defence minister Khaled Nordin said Putrajaya had a backup plan should the situation in southern Lebanon escalate and prompt the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) to withdraw due to Israel’s aggressive actions.

For now, he said Malaysia’s commitment to sending military personnel under the UN to Lebanon and other countries, remained.

Yesterday, six Malbatt members were confirmed to have sustained injuries following an explosion near Saida Stadium in Lebanon while en route from Beirut to Marakah Camp at 1.54pm local time (7.54pm in Malaysia).

“All affected are safely back at camp,” the Malaysian armed forces said in a statement this evening. One of the soldiers, who was injured in the hand, was discharged today from hospital. The other five, with minor injuries, would receive treatment at the camp and will resume normal duties once recovered.

Khaled said the incident was caused by the explosion of a car, though it remains unclear if the explosion was caused by a drone or an Israeli fighter jet.

The first deployment of the Malbatt 850-12 team, consisting of 220 officers and members of other ranks, began on Wednesday. This will continue in stages until Nov 18 as part of their UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon.