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| A wake up call to the UN? |
paraclete |
07/25/06 |
Coming close after UN critism of Israel, is Israel telling the UN it can no longer just be an observer.
UN deaths 'deeply regrettable'
From: Agence France-Presse From correspondents in Tyre, Lebanon
July 26, 2006
Hit ... a huge plume of smoke rises above Khiam / AP ISRAEL said today it regretted the deaths of four UN military observers in southern Lebanon and would investigate the air strike that killed them.
"Israel sincerely regrets the tragic death of the U.N. personnel in south Lebanon," Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said.
"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," Mr Regev said.
A Chinese observer was among the four UN personnel killed in an Israeli air strike on Lebanon, Chinese state media said today.
Xinhua news agency named the observer as Du Zhaoyu and said his body had been recovered.
Earlier UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said he was "shocked" at Israel's "apparently deliberate targeting" of the UN post in Lebanon.
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Mr Annan described the strike as a "co-ordinated artillery and aerial attack on a long established and clearly marked UN post."
He said it took place "despite personal assurances given to me by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that UN positions would be spared Israeli fire."
"Furthermore, General Alain Pelligrini, the UN Force Commander in south Lebanon, had been in repeated contact with Israeli officers throughout the day on Tuesday, stressing the need to protect that particular UN position from attack.
"I call on the Government of Israel to conduct a full investigation into this very disturbing incident and demand that any further attack on UN positions and personnel must stop.
"The names and nationalities of those killed are being withheld pending notification of their families. I extend sincere condolences to the families of our fallen peacekeepers."
Earlier it had been announced by US envoy to the UN John Bolton that an Israeli air attack on a UN post in south Lebanon this morning had left four UN observers dead.
Ambassadors from the permanent members of the UN Security Council were told about the dead from the reported Israeli attack during a meeting to discuss Iran, Mr Bolton said.
"It is something we take seriously,'' Bolton said. ``We are going to focus on this incident, see what we can find out about it.''
The UN said rescue efforts at the UN house and shelter in Lebanon border town of Khiam had been mounted.
"A rescue team from UNIFIL was sent to this place but they did not succeed for the moment to rescue the people under the rubble," said Milos Strugar, spokesman of the UN Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
"There were 14 other Israeli firings close to this position by the Israeli side and the firing continued during the UNIFIL rescue."
The hilltop town of Khiam, close to the Israeli border sheltered an infamous prison during Israel's 22-year occupation of south Lebanon to 2000, but is now a Hezbollah stronghold.
An AFP correspondent across the border in the town of Metulla in the far north of Israel saw a heavy bombardment under way of the Khiam area.
Meanwhile, Israeli troops entered the border town of Bint Jbeil, a Hizbollah military stronghold, for the first time overnight as they pushed deeper into Lebanese territory.
The Israeli army, which has been encountering fierce resistance in its war on Hizbollah despite its clear military superiority, entered the border town following a day of fierce fighting with the Lebanese Shiite guerrillas.
"The Israeli army is in Bint Jbeil. Some sporadic fighting is ongoing inside and around the town," Mr Strugar said.
Asked whether the Israeli troops had captured the town, he said: "It is difficult to know what is really happening at this time.
"The civilian population in Bint Jbeil is caught in the crossfire."
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Clarification/Follow-up by ETWolverine on 07/26/06 11:20 am:
Clete,
>>>I have seen the film there is a definate strike which is not an artillery shell<<<
Really? How do you tell the difference from a film? Does the explosion look different? The pattern of the blast? The direction of the smoke? I have no idea, not being a forensic munitions specialist. Do you have any expertise in this area that I don't know about?
Elliot Clarification/Follow-up by paraclete on 07/26/06 8:05 pm:
It's true I may have abilities you know nothing about Elliot but look at the news footage yourself before being sarcastic. By the way tell me it you know, what's this about Israel using chemical weapons?
Clarification/Follow-up by ETWolverine on 07/27/06 11:53 am:
This is the probable explanation of the "chemical warfare" accusations. Israel has begun to use thermobaric weapons against the snake-holes and underground tunnels that Hizbollah has dug underground. Thermobarrics spray a flamable mist into the air around them before exploding. The mist explodes as well, causing an overpressure that literally crushes anything within its area of effect. Those caught in the area of effect die from being crushed, not from being blown up. The US Marines used similar weapons in caves of Tora Bora. Thermobarics are particularly effective against bunkers, in caves, and underground tunnels.
The argument being used by certain anti-war groups is that the spraying of the flamable mist makes thermobaric explosives a "chemical weapon", which is actually a pretty rediculous argument, since the victims don't die of chemical poisoning, they die from being crushed. Nobody who gets hit with the mist lives long enough to be poisoned. From the time the mist is released to the time the explosion occurs is under two seconds, making the chemical-weapon argument a rediculous one.
And I have seen the footage of the blast at the UN guard station. I can't tell what it is that hit them. It might be a missile, or it might have been a mortar or a tank round. It was too fast for me to see exactly what it was, and I suspect that it was the same for most people.
Elliot
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