Coolassprov MC
26-07-06, 09:27
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1830171,00.html
Four UN observers killed in Israeli airstrike
Rory McCarthy on the Israeli border and Ian Black in Jerusalem
Wednesday July 26, 2006
The Guardian
An Israeli air strike killed four UN peacekeepers on the border with southern Lebanon last night, further aggravating diplomatic tensions before today's conference in Rome.
The UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, immediately called on Israel to conduct an investigation into the "apparently deliberate targeting" of a UN observer post in Khiyam, which killed four observers from Austria, Canada, China and Finland.
The 2,000-strong observer force has suffered dozens of attacks and direct hits in the two weeks of war. The force sits on the border to monitor both Israeli and Hizbullah activity, but Israel is suspicious of the force and wants it replaced with a beefed up international force, possibly numbering as many as 20,000 troops.
Last night the defence minister, Amir Peretz, said that Israel was carving out a "security zone" north of its border with Lebanon and will occupy it if the international force is not deployed to keep Hizbullah guerrillas away.
Israeli troops would stay put on Lebanese territory unless significant foreign forces were deployed, Mr Peretz said after talks with the US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice. Israel would control the zone by firing at anyone who entered it, he added. "If there is not a robust multinational force on the ground that can enforce its will, then we will continue to fire at anyone who enters the zone," he told Israel Radio.
Israeli warplanes bombarded south Beirut yesterday and launched 100 strikes across south Lebanon. One attack killed a family of seven, Lebanese security sources said. Another killed a senior Hizbullah commander, Abu Jaafar, according to the Israeli army. Israeli infantry, backed by tanks and heavy artillery shelling, were still fighting in the southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil, where two tank troops were killed on Monday. Four soldiers were reported wounded.
"We don't want to conquer Bint Jbeil," said Brigadier General Shuki Shachar, the deputy head of Israel's northern command. "We will hold the ground and the high positions around the village. To hit the terrorists you don't have to be in every square inch of the town." For now Israeli troops would prevent Lebanese civilians from returning to the area controlled by its forces in the south, he said.
Mr Peretz made clear the new zone would not be identical to that controlled by Israel and its Lebanese proxies for years before its withdrawal in 2000. "We are creating it now," he said. "It's not one line, but changes according to the topography. It all depends on the conditions on the ground and our operational requirements." The zone might extend several miles into Lebanon, analysts said.
An Israeli official said his government wanted any multinational force to number 20,000 troops, Reuters reported. That would be twice the size of the force being discussed by European powers.
Although ground forces have fought in only a handful of villages and small towns across the border, their casualties have been high, raising questions even in the strongly patriotic Israeli press. So far 24 troops have been killed, and at least 75 injured. "It is not easy to fight Hizbullah," Gen Shachar said. "After a few days we realised that Hizbullah prepared itself in the last six years with thousands of rockets inside Lebanon, with hundreds of shelters, bunkers, rockets hidden in civilian houses."
In the past two weeks Hizbullah had fired 1,750 rockets and 1,000 mortars into northern Israel, he said. So far 18 civilians have been killed, including a girl, 15, who was killed yesterday in the Arab village of Maghar, near Tiberias. That compares with more than 400 dead in Lebanon.
Four UN observers killed in Israeli airstrike
Rory McCarthy on the Israeli border and Ian Black in Jerusalem
Wednesday July 26, 2006
The Guardian
An Israeli air strike killed four UN peacekeepers on the border with southern Lebanon last night, further aggravating diplomatic tensions before today's conference in Rome.
The UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, immediately called on Israel to conduct an investigation into the "apparently deliberate targeting" of a UN observer post in Khiyam, which killed four observers from Austria, Canada, China and Finland.
The 2,000-strong observer force has suffered dozens of attacks and direct hits in the two weeks of war. The force sits on the border to monitor both Israeli and Hizbullah activity, but Israel is suspicious of the force and wants it replaced with a beefed up international force, possibly numbering as many as 20,000 troops.
Last night the defence minister, Amir Peretz, said that Israel was carving out a "security zone" north of its border with Lebanon and will occupy it if the international force is not deployed to keep Hizbullah guerrillas away.
Israeli troops would stay put on Lebanese territory unless significant foreign forces were deployed, Mr Peretz said after talks with the US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice. Israel would control the zone by firing at anyone who entered it, he added. "If there is not a robust multinational force on the ground that can enforce its will, then we will continue to fire at anyone who enters the zone," he told Israel Radio.
Israeli warplanes bombarded south Beirut yesterday and launched 100 strikes across south Lebanon. One attack killed a family of seven, Lebanese security sources said. Another killed a senior Hizbullah commander, Abu Jaafar, according to the Israeli army. Israeli infantry, backed by tanks and heavy artillery shelling, were still fighting in the southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil, where two tank troops were killed on Monday. Four soldiers were reported wounded.
"We don't want to conquer Bint Jbeil," said Brigadier General Shuki Shachar, the deputy head of Israel's northern command. "We will hold the ground and the high positions around the village. To hit the terrorists you don't have to be in every square inch of the town." For now Israeli troops would prevent Lebanese civilians from returning to the area controlled by its forces in the south, he said.
Mr Peretz made clear the new zone would not be identical to that controlled by Israel and its Lebanese proxies for years before its withdrawal in 2000. "We are creating it now," he said. "It's not one line, but changes according to the topography. It all depends on the conditions on the ground and our operational requirements." The zone might extend several miles into Lebanon, analysts said.
An Israeli official said his government wanted any multinational force to number 20,000 troops, Reuters reported. That would be twice the size of the force being discussed by European powers.
Although ground forces have fought in only a handful of villages and small towns across the border, their casualties have been high, raising questions even in the strongly patriotic Israeli press. So far 24 troops have been killed, and at least 75 injured. "It is not easy to fight Hizbullah," Gen Shachar said. "After a few days we realised that Hizbullah prepared itself in the last six years with thousands of rockets inside Lebanon, with hundreds of shelters, bunkers, rockets hidden in civilian houses."
In the past two weeks Hizbullah had fired 1,750 rockets and 1,000 mortars into northern Israel, he said. So far 18 civilians have been killed, including a girl, 15, who was killed yesterday in the Arab village of Maghar, near Tiberias. That compares with more than 400 dead in Lebanon.