UN: Hezbollah did not fire from vicinity of observation post on day of air strike
Hezbollah allegedly vacated the area in the early days of the fighting
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By Inka Kovanen in Khiam, Lebanon
After the bombing of the UNTSO observation post at Khiam in Southern Lebanon, the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan accused the Israeli military of "apparently deliberately targeting" the UN position.
The observation post, built more than thirty years ago, was clearly marked with white paint, UN insignia and a flag, and Israel should have known of its existence, said UN officials.
Israel expressed its profound regret at the air strike and said that it had taken place as a result of an "operational error". According to the Israeli statement a glitch had occurred in the copying process when maps were rendered into digital form.
Israel stated that a Hezbollah base had been within a hundred metres of the Khiam observation post, and that Hezbollah had been firing Katyusha rockets into Northern Israel from the vicinity, using the UN building as a shield.
According to the UN's own findings, Hezbollah did not fire a single rocket from the area around the bombed obervation post on the day of the incident.
According to one source spoken to, Hezbollah had not been active anywhere close to the post since the first day or two of the conflict. He stated that there were no Hezbollah fighters in the immediate area, and that no rockets had been fired from this location into Israel.
Hezbollah did have a well-documented base around 200 metres from the observation post. According to UN sources, however, this was mainly a supply depot or meeting place, and at no stage did it serve in an operational capacity.
"What I can say is that within around an hour of the taking of the Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah's military wing [on the morning of July 12th], the Hezbollah people left their base", the source commented.
Hezbollah was well aware that reprisals would be forthcoming after their cross-border raid. Every time that Hezbollah has attacked Israel, the strikes have been met with counter-strikes.
Israel bombed the Hezbollah position a few hours after the incident in which the soldiers were captured. Only a ruined shell is left of the base building, located on a steep hillside.
"The Israeli military knew precisely where the Hezbollah strongholds were located, and it took them out in relatively short order", says the source.
Khiam is in a strongly pro-Hezbollah area of Southern Lebanon, and according to one UN source the organisation operated in the area before last summer's fighting. Many locals have nevertheless said that the military wing of the organisation did not have a base in Khiam.
"We all support Hezbollah in our hearts, but we are not fighters" one local man said. Another commented that everyone knew the political Hezbollah members, but not those from the military branch.
Nabih Abdullah, 60, reported that there were Hezbollah fighters in the village and in the nearby Khiam Detention Center, but only after the villagers had fled the area. The edge of the village is around half a kilometre from the UN observation post.
Battles between Hezbollah and the IDF went on further afield, in the valley, and not in the village itself, Abdullah said.
The local people could not say anything very much about the bombing of the UN observation post on July 25th, as nearly everyone had already fled the village by the time the shelling started.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 1.11.2006
More on this subject:
 Israeli forces shelled Khiam practically incessantly
INKA KOVANEN / Helsingin Sanomat
inka.kovanen@hs.fi
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