Israeli bomb kills UN observers Four United Nations peacekeepers have been killed in an Israeli air strike on an observation post in south Lebanon. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said he was "shocked" at the "apparently deliberate targeting" of the post. Israel has expressed "deep regret". Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, has vowed the group would continue its rocket attacks on Israel. Israel earlier said it would control an area in southern Lebanon until international forces deployed. The force will be discussed at crisis talks to be held in Rome on Wednesday. Observers sheltering US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will be at the talks after ending her tour of the Middle East on Tuesday. More than 380 Lebanese and 42 Israelis have died in nearly two weeks of conflict in Lebanon, which began after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on 12 July. The UN in Lebanon says the Israeli air force destroyed the observer post, in which four military observers were sheltering. It said the four, from Austria, Canada, China and Finland, had taken shelter in a bunker under the post after it was earlier shelled 14 times by Israeli artillery. A rescue team was also shelled as it tried to clear the rubble. "I am shocked and deeply distressed by the apparently deliberate targeting by Israeli Defence Forces of a UN Observer post in southern Lebanon," Mr Annan said in a statement from Rome. Unifil has been operational in the border area since 1978 and is currently 2,000 strong. Mr Nasrullah told Hezbollah's al-Manar television that the militant group would fire rockets deeper into Israel and would counter any Israeli advance into southern Lebanon, and criticised what he called an Israeli-US plan for a "new Middle East". "There is no way that we can accept any humiliating conditions on us, our people or our country... especially after all these sacrifices... we are open to political discussions and solutions with flexibility, but the dignity and national interest is a red line." In other military action: * The Israeli army said it had killed a senior Hezbollah commander, Abu Jaafar, in fighting in southern Lebanon # Earlier the UN said Israeli forces were now in control of the town of Bint Jbeil after fierce fighting and were moving on the village of Yaroun to the south # Israel resumed air raids on Beirut, with explosions heard in southern suburbs - a Hezbollah stronghold # Hezbollah fired more Katyusha rockets into Israel, killing a 15-year-old Arab-Israeli girl in the northern Israeli village of Maghar and striking Haifa with a large salvo # Hezbollah said 27 of its fighters had been killed as of Monday, but the Israeli military said it had killed "some dozens". Truce call Earlier, Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz had said a "security zone" in southern Lebanon would be maintained "under the control of our forces if there is not a multinational force". He said: "We have no other option. We have to build a new security strip that will be a cover for our forces." He did not specify whether Israeli troops would remain there but insisted they would "continue to control [Hezbollah]" in their operations. Israeli government sources have estimated the width of the zone at anything from three to 10km (1.9-6.2 miles). An unnamed Israeli official quoted by Reuters news agency said between 10,000 and 20,000 international peacekeepers would be needed. BBC defence and security correspondent Rob Watson says Israeli details on the zone - and how it will be secured - are far from clear. Israel is acting with tremendous restraint, were they targeting civilian populations there would be thousands upon thousands dead Steve Gross, US He says it is possible Mr Peretz is trying to put pressure on the international community to deliver the peacekeeping force. Earlier, Ms Rice met Israeli PM Ehud Olmert and later Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Mr Abbas called for an immediate end to "aggression against the Gaza Strip and the West Bank" and for an "immediate ceasefire" in Lebanon. Ms Rice said the only solution was a sustainable and enduring peace. Her words were reinforced later by US President George W Bush who said: "I support a sustainable ceasefire that will bring about an end to violence... Our mission and our goal is to have a lasting peace, not a temporary peace." In his meeting with Ms Rice, Mr Olmert said he was "very conscious" of the humanitarian needs of Lebanon's civilians, but insisted Israel was defending itself against terrorism. Ms Rice highlighted the need for Israel to consider the humanitarian needs of both Lebanon and the Palestinian people and the need for a durable peace. She said: "It is time for a new Middle East, it is time to say to those who do not want a different kind of Middle East that we will prevail; they will not." http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5215366.stm
Here is a more detailed report on Annan's speech: http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,19916610-5005961,00.html
The UN staff killed weren't peacekeepers as there is no peacekeeping operation there. These were observers.
I fail to see what the Israelis are trying to achieve through the targeting of UN observers...very confusing
Who goes as observers into a war zone. unfortunately thats the risk those individuals took. they should have known better. did they have a un flag?... isrealies are paranoid of hezbollah. they might have thought hezbollah might have put those flags there on on false pretences to setup of a base there. it's not the first time hezbollah has used dirty tactics.
Thus I don't think the Israelis "deliberate targeted" the UN observers, there is nothing for Israelis to gain in this instance, only much to lose.
According to reports that post was well marked as a UN posts whether they might've thought Hezbollah was there they still have to consider the possiblity it is a valid UN post. That could easily be confirmed by calling the UN commander in Lebanon.
There is nothing but neither was there anything tangible to be gained by Hezbollah kidnapping Israeli soldiers. Neither side is showing much of a penchant for rationality.
A couple of possibilities: 1) Send a message to the world. With the U.S. backing, Israel declares it will destroy anyone who is perceived to be an hinderance to its hegemony over the Middle East. 2) These four UN observers may have collected some very damaging evidences against Israel, such as war crimes. So the Israelis simply killed them preventively.
Probaly... but maybe the isrealies didnt want to take any chances?. there thinking probaly was, by the time we contact lebanon, the hezbollah millitas under the stolen or whatever UN flag could start launching rockets or mortars at us. i'm not trying to condone this, noone can condone the killing of nuteral observers, but in a war zone, things like are bound to happen. hezbollah plays dirty alltime, unfortunately the isrealies have become paranoid in that sense.
That's what they say and they might even mean but, speculation on my part, it seems very hard to buy that they wouldn't have anticipated some sort of military response on Israel's part. Maybe not the huge response but something that at the minimum would've involved heavy bombing of Hezbollah bases in Southern Lebanon. Hezbollah's leaders may actually be that stupid to have expected Israel to just swap prisoners but I have a hard time buying that.
As a side note this isn't the first time that Israel in the course of a war hasn't hit a neutral party. During the 1967 war the Israeli airforce hit a US ship too.
Nothing hezbollah does is stupid. all there moves are well calculated and Pre-orchastrated. there is a bigger and more sinster motive here.
Isaw a documentrey about this. even then the american warship had a clear american flag. the isreale warplanes later said they thought the ship was egyption. but egypt never possessed such sophsticated warships at that time. i find it hard to buy that the isrealie pilots didnt spot the American flag on the ship.
Israel is a rogue regime that needs to be punished...Not only do they not listen and defy the UN and international law, they bomb the UN. This isn't the first time they've done this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qana_shelling I'm sure this was an "accident" as well It's funny how other countries are punished for defying the UN, but Israel literally attacks the UN and gets away with it. They get away with murder. But they hate us for our freedoms. On the positive side of things, it's good to see that spineless bureaucratic Kofi Annan finally speak up
Israel has always given the UN the middle finger. As long as it has the US on its side, it doesn't need to worry about what the rest of the world thinks. A simplistic way of describing the situation, but that's basically the gist of it. The Israeli military has always used very aggressive tactics along the lines of shoot first, ask questions later. For instance, they've been known to use tanks and heavy artillery in heavily dense population centers.
At least from the description you provided above, Hezbollah was firing rockets from a position right next to the UN compound and Israel responded with artillery.
