During the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict, United Nations personnel in Lebanon have come under a number of attacks. On 25 July 2006, four unarmed United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) peacekeepers were killed in an Israeli air strike on a UN observation post in southern Lebanon.
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The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, or UNIFIL, was created by the United Nations, by Security Council Resolution 425 and 426 on 19 March 1978. UNIFIL objective was to confirm Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, to restore international peace and security, and to help the Lebanese Government restore effective authority in the area.[1] The first UNIFIL troops to arrive in the area on 23 March 1978 were reassigned from other UN peacekeeping operations in the area (namely UNEF and UNDOF).[1]
During the 1982 Lebanon War, U.N. positions were overrun, primarily by the South Lebanon Army forces under Major Saad Haddad. These were the indigenous Lebanese forces supported by the IDF.[2] During the occupation, UNIFIL's function was mainly to provide humanitarian aid.[2] In 1999, Israel undertook a full withdrawal, which concluded in 2000 and enabled UNIFIL to resume its military tasks. The UN Security Council has extended UNIFIL's mandate until August 31, 2006.[3]
UNIFIL's function was mainly the provision of food and aid to locals in Southern Lebanon. In 1999, Israel undertook a full withdrawal, which concluded in 2000 and enabled UNIFIL to resume its military tasks. At Lebanon' request, in January 2006 the UN extended UNIFIL's mandate to expire 31 July 2006.
On 25 July 2006 four unarmed United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) peacekeepers from Austria, China, Finland and Canada were killed in an Israeli air strike on a UN observation post in southern Lebanon. According to the UN, the four had taken shelter in a bunker under the post, which was a three story building inside a patrol base in Khiyam.[4] It had been shelled 14 times by Israeli artillery over a period of 6 hours. An Israeli plane then dropped a bomb, destroying the post. During the bombardment, the post called an Israeli liaison officer ten times to call off the bombardment. According to a UN official who had seen the preliminary report, an Israeli official promised to halt the bombing each time.[5] UN military personnel on the ground along the Israel-Lebanon border reported that the munitions hitting the UNTSO position were precision-guided.[6]
A UNIFIL rescue team was immediately dispatched to the scene. They recovered the bodies of three observers from the rubble under artillery fire from the IDF.[7] Attack in the vicinity continued as rescuers tried to reach those killed or injured, UNIFIL said. UNIFIL said there had been at least 14 incidents of fire close to the post since afternoon. Daniel Ayalon, Israel's ambassador to the United States, said that "UNIFIL obviously got caught in the middle" of a gunfight between Hezbollah guerillas and Israeli troops."We do not have yet confirmation what caused these deaths. It could be (Israel Defense Forces). It could be Hezbollah," he said.[8]
By 8 August 2006, the bodies of observers were retrieved and identified. The four victims of the attack, from UNTSO Team Sierra, were:
Secretary-General Kofi Annan initially stated that he was "…shocked and deeply distressed by the apparently deliberate targeting by Israeli Defence Forces."[13] "This coordinated artillery and aerial attack on a long-established and clearly marked U.N. post at Khiyam occurred despite personal assurances given to me by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that U.N. positions would be spared Israeli fire," he said in a statement. "Furthermore, General Alain Pellegrini, the U.N. force commander in south Lebanon, had been in repeated contact with Israeli officers throughout the day, stressing the need to protect that particular U.N. position from attack."[14]
Ayalon, Israeli ambassador to the United States called Annan's statement "outrageous," while Israel's U.N. ambassador, Dan Gillerman, said he, too, was "deeply distressed" that Annan alleged that the strike was deliberate. "I am surprised at these premature and erroneous assertions made by the secretary-general, who while demanding an investigation, has already issued its conclusions," Gillerman said in a statement.[8] However, as at the time Annan had only circumstantial evidence for the bombing being deliberate, many pundits described Annan’s statement as indicative of the UN's anti-Israel bias.[15][16][17][18][19][20]
An Israeli senior commander stated that Hezbollah forces fired rockets from as little as 30-40m from UNIFIL bases, seeking to avoid Israeli counter-fire, and had sought refuge in UNIFIL bases on occasion. UNIFIL maintained that Hezbollah fighters were not allowed into any of its bases. However, they reported more than 20 instances of rockets being fired from less than 500m from their positions, as well as a number of cases of small arms and mortar fire from within 100m. Additionally, UNIFIL reported several instances of their positions and vehicles being hit by Hezbollah mortars, small arms fire, or rockets.[21]
On 26 July 2006, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert phoned Kofi Annan and expressed his deep regret over the death of the four UN observers. He promised that Israel would thoroughly investigate the incident and would share the findings with Annan, but said that he was taken aback by secretary general’s statement saying that the Israeli attack on the UN post was “apparently deliberate”.[22] The Israeli ambassador to the UN, Dan Gillerman, ruled out major U.N. involvement in any potential international force in Lebanon, saying that more professional and better-trained troops were needed for such a volatile situation.[23]
At a press conference the next day, Annan seemed to soften his stance and clarified that "[t]he statement said 'apparently deliberate targeting,'" stressing that the word "apparent is important in this." He added that he spoke to Olmert and accepted his "deep sorrow" for the incident, which he said Olmert "definitely believes" was a mistake that would be investigated.[6]
Canada’s Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, said he does not believe Israel targeted the post, and pointed to the fact that Israel has been “co-operating with us in our evacuation efforts, in our efforts to move Canadian citizens out of Lebanon, and also trying to keep our own troops that are on the ground involved in the evacuation out of harm's way.”[24] He also has exclaimed his concern with the UN in that the post “remained manned during what is now, more or less, a war.”[24]
However, Ireland’s Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern angered because Irish peace keeping troops had been on duty in the observation post 24 hours before the strike said that a senior Irish soldier working for the UN forces was in contact with the Israelis six times to warn them that their bombardment was endangering the lives of UN staff.[25]
Ireland has filed an official protest with Israel. China has also strongly condemned the action and demanded that Israel apologize for the attack. Austria's foreign minister, Ursula Plassnik, told her Israeli counterpart by telephone that the bombing was unacceptable and urged Israel to stop its attack on the area.[24]
In an interview with Reuters, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said that “Israel sincerely regrets the tragic death of the UN personnel in south Lebanon. We do not target UN personnel and, since the beginning of this conflict, we have made a consistent effort to ensure the safety of all members of (the UN peacekeeping force). This tragic event will be thoroughly investigated.”[26]
On 27 July, the United Nations Security Council issued a statement calling on the Israeli government to conduct a comprehensive inquiry into the incident and stressed that “Israel and all concerned parties” must comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law on the protection of UN personnel.[27]
Israel has launched an investigation into the bombing and has concluded that the incident was an error. The report says flawed military maps meant the post was wrongly targeted. Israel's foreign ministry spokesman, Mark Regev, told that the report concludes the attack was an error. Israeli aircraft attacked the post in the belief it was a Hezbollah position.
In an email dated 18 July received by CTV and published 24 July, the deceased Canadian peacekeeper Major Paeta Hess-von Kruedener, stated: “What I can tell you is this: we have on a daily basis had numerous occasions where our position has come under direct or indirect fire from both artillery and aerial bombing. The closest artillery has landed within 2 meters of our position and the closest 1000 lb aerial bomb has landed 100 meters from our patrol base. This has not been deliberate targeting, but has rather been due to tactical necessity.”[28]
According to retired Canadian Major General Lewis MacKenzie, interviewed on CBC radio on 26 July, Hess-von Kruedener's phrase ‘due to tactical necessity’ was “veiled speech in the military. What he was telling us was Hezbollah fighters were all over his position and the IDF were targeting them.”[17][29][30] However, Major Paeta Hess-von Kruedener's widow Cynthia stated on 29 July that she blamed the IDF for her husband’s death. She said “Why did they bomb the UN site? In my opinion, those are precision-guided missiles [so] then that it is intentional.…And that wasn’t the only day they were firing on that base. My information from him [her husband] is that week upon week they had been firing on there, bombing near it.”[31] It has not been determined as of yet if the munitions were guided or not.
The UNIFIL press releases mention dozen of attacks and near misses on its presence during the present conflict.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Security Council failed to agree on a statement responding to the Israeli attack after the United States refused to accept language condemning: "any deliberate attack against U.N. personnel."'[44]
INTEGRATE taken from Targeting of civilian areas in the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict
The United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon (UNIFIL) was created by the United Nations, to confirm Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, restore the international peace and security, and help the Lebanese Government restore its effective authority in the area. During the current (as in past conflicts; see Qana shelling) the peacekeeping force has come under attack from both sides, but mainly from Israeli forces.[45] About 50 members of the unarmed UNTSO are being evacuated to lightly armed UNIFIL positions for security reasons.[46]
The worst of these came on 25 July 2006, when four unarmed UNTSO peacekeepers from Austria, China, Finland and Canada were killed in an Israeli air strike on a UN observation post in southern Lebanon. According to the UN, the four had taken shelter in a bunker under the post. It had been shelled 14 times by Israeli artillery over a period of 6 hours, during which the post called an Israeli liaison officer ten times to call off the bombardement. Every time he promised to do so.[47] Secretary General Kofi Annan said in a statement from Rome that he was " ... shocked and deeply distressed by the apparently deliberate targeting by Israeli Defense Forces."[48] The site of the observation post was well known, and both sides in the conflict had the coordinates of the compound. However, as at the time Annan had no evidence for the bombing being deliberate, many pundits described Annan’s statement as indicative of the UN's anti-Israel bias.[15][16][17][18][19][20] In press releases by UNIFIL on 26 July and 27 July it is noted that Hezbollah had been firing from close to 4 UNIFIL positions in Alma ash Shab, Tibnin Brashit and At Tiri.[49][50] Ireland's Foreign Ministry said a senior Irish soldier working for the UN forces was in contact with the Israelis six times to warn them that their bombardment was endangering the lives of U.N. staff and on several occasions they were reassured that it will.[51][52]
According to an interview on CBC radio and multiple print sources, Retired Canadian Major General Lewis MacKenzie, referring to an email he had received a few days previously from the now deceased Canadian peacekeeper Major Paeta Hess-von Kruedener, stated that "...what he was telling us was Hezbollah fighters were all over his position and the IDF were (sic) targeting them and that's a favorite trick by people who don't have representation in the UN. They use the UN as shields knowing that they can't be punished for it." [53][54]
| Country | Civilian | Military |
|---|---|---|
| Austria | 1 dead | |
| Canada | 1 dead | |
| China, People’s Republic of | 1 dead 3 wounded |
|
| Finland | 1 dead | |
| Ghana | 5 wounded | |
| India | 3 wounded | |
| Italy | 1 wounded | |
| Nigeria | 1 dead | |
| Total | 1 dead | 4 dead 12 wounded |
In the aftermath of the war, aircraft of the Israeli Air Force began fly over Lebanon. In September 2006, Major General Alain Pellegrini of France, commander of UNIFIL, warned that the flyovers violated the cease-fire, and that force might be used to stop the incursions.[55] In October 2006, a number of incidents between the Israeli Air Force and UN peacekeepers took place:
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