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During the 2006 July War, a number of international incidents occurred in Lebanon, largely involving United Nations personnel who have come under a number of attacks by Israeli forces.
Most notably on 25 July 2006, four unarmed United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) peacekeepers were killed during an Israeli air strike on a UN observation post in southern Lebanon. Israel later stated that the attack was an error due to the incorrect identification of the UN position as a militant enemy post. The observation post was built in 1948, had clear UN markings, and UN staff (including Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown) had contacted the IDF at least 14 times telling them to call off the attack.[1]
The United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) was created on 29 May 1948 following the founding of the state of Israel on 14 May 1948. Massive civil unrest and armed resistance from Palestinians against Zionism, alongside the immediate outbreak of war between Israel and Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt in support of Palestine, led the UN Security council to adopt UN Security Council Resolution 50 calling for an immediate truce and establishing a military force to oversee that it be carried out.[2] The first Peacekeepers arrived in Palestine in June 1948, and saw their first casualty in July while investigating an alleged violation of the truce provisions by Israeli forces.[3] Since then, UNTSO command structure was expanded to support UNIFIL and other similar operations in the region.[4]
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, or UNIFIL, was created by the United Nations through Security Council Resolution 425 and 426 on 19 March 1978. UNIFIL's 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.[5] 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).[5] 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.[6] During the occupation, UNIFIL's function was mainly to provide humanitarian aid.
In 1999, Israel undertook a full withdrawal, which concluded in 2000 and enabled UNIFIL to resume its military tasks. The UN Security Council extended UNIFIL's mandate until 31 August 2006.[7] About 50 members of the unarmed UNTSO were evacuated to lightly armed UNIFIL positions for security reasons during the 2006 July War in Lebanon.[8] During this time (as in past conflicts) the peacekeeping force mainly came under attack from Israeli forces.[9]
On 15 July 2006, the IDF unilaterally established a "security zone" along the Blue Line and informed the UNIFIL that any person or vehicle entering and approaching the Blue Line, including United Nations personnel, would be shot. This zone was directly within UNIFIL's area of operation, enveloped multiple UNIFIL positions, and Israeli policy made it impossible for UNIFIL positions to be evacuated or carry out their oversight role for either side of the conflict.[10]
On 25 July 2006, the UNIFIL Khiyam base, which was primarily a simple white three-story building with UN markings, faced heavy artillery and aerial bombardment by the IDF over a period of 6 hours. According to the IDF, this was meant to target Hezbollah positions some 150 meters away, who were reportedly firing on them. A UN investigation found that no Hezbollah attack had taken place in that area that day.[10] According to the UN, the post called an Israeli liaison officer at least 14 times throughout the day to call off the bombardment and an Israeli official promised to halt the bombing each time.[11][12][13][14][1][10] The site of the observation post was well known, having been built in 1948 and clearly marked.[1][15] Both sides in the conflict had the coordinates of the compound.[10]
At 6:30pm, four artillery shells impacted and exploded within the position, destroying the main building and damaging the shelter underneath. The four unarmed United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) peacekeepers from Austria, China, Finland and Canada who manned the post at the time were forced to flee to the damaged shelter underneath the building.[16] At 7:25pm a 500 kilogram precision-guided bomb struck and destroyed both the base and bunker underneath, burying and killing everyone inside.[10]
A UNIFIL rescue team of Indian soldiers was immediately dispatched to the scene. They recovered the bodies of three observers from the rubble while there was still active hostilities.[17] Danny 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.[18]
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."[24] "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."[25]
At a later press conference the day after a phone call with Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert, 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 will be investigated.[26]
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."[27] On 27 July, the 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.[28] Many within the UN called for a joint UN-Israeli investigation into the incident. Israel refused.[29]
A UN officer stationed in Lebanon would later note that the biggest area to maneuver heavy armor was in the valley directly below the UNIFIL Khiyam base, and if the IDF did not want this observed, they would have to get rid of it.[30]
Danny Ayalon, Israeli ambassador to the United States, called Annan's statement "outrageous". 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.[18] Many right-leaning and Israeli news outlets described Annan’s statement as indicative of the UN's anti-Israel bias.[31][32][33][34][35][36]
An Israeli senior commander stated that Hezbollah forces fired rockets from as little as 30–40 metres (98–131 ft) 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.[37]
On 26 July 2006, 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".[38]
Ambassador Gillerman ruled out major U.N. involvement in any potential international force in Lebanon, deriding the UN peacekeepers in Lebanon, saying that "It has never been able to prevent any shelling of Israel, any terrorist attack, any kidnappings... They either didn't see or didn't know or didn't want to see, but they have been hopeless." On the question of what would replace the UN peacekeepers, Gillerman stated that more "professional" troops "from countries who have the training and capabilities to be effective" were needed for such a volatile situation.[29]
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."[39]
In response to the killing, a Board of Inquiry was convened by Lieutenant Governor J.C.M. Gautier. The board report had found Israel to be at fault for the incident, and noted that Israel had refused to cooperate with the investigation, providing only a "non-paper" summary of its own investigation.[40]
Canada’s prime minister during the conflict, Stephen Harper, a staunch supporter of Israel and critic of the UN, said he did 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."[41]
Hess-Von Krudener's widow, Cynthia Hess-Von Kruedener said in a 2008 CBC interview the she believed that the bombing was a deliberate act by Israeli forces, due to her husbands reporting of what he suggested were war crimes committed by Israeli forces.[40] She remarked in a letter, in response to the Canadian government's inquiry into the incident: [42]
If 6 hours of artillery shelling was an operational error – and bombing a UN bunker was an operational error – what are the odds that two operational errors (land and air) occurred within an hour of each other and in the same place? ... This was not an accident.
Ireland's foreign minister Dermot Ahern and its defence minister Willie O'Dea were angered because Irish peace keeping troops had been on duty in the observation post 24 hours before the strike. They also said that a senior Irish soldier working for the UN forces was in contact with the Israeli Defence Force's UNIFIL liaison office six times to warn them that their bombardment was endangering the lives of UN staff. Both Ministers called in the Israeli ambassador to Ireland to express their anger and dissatisfaction.[43]
Ireland has filed an official protest with Israel.
China strongly condemned the action and demanded a thorough investigation and formal apology from Israel for the attack. 180 Chinese military officers and engineers were in Lebanon as part of UN peacekeeping operations at the time.[44] Lt. Colonel Du Zhaoyu's body was brought back to China in a large ceremony attended by PLA Assistant Chief of General Staff Zhang Qinsheng and China's Assistant Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai, along with over 100 Chinese military officers. In 2021, representatives from the Chinese contingent of the UN Peacekeepers and the Chinese embassy to Lebanon took part in a memorial ceremony at the site of the attack.[45]
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.[41]
The UN Investigations on the 25th of July incident found no justification for it or the 29 other instances it found of the IDF "directly attacking" UN peacekeeping personnel during the month-long conflict.[10] It additionally found that the IDF justification for these attacks and repeated attacks on Civilian infrastructure, which generally centered around Hezbollah either hiding within/near or utilizing these facilities, was too broad and fell apart under scrutiny. One report summary states that "[b]y using this argument, the IDF effectively changed the status of all civilian objects by alleging that they might be used by Hezbollah. Further, the Commission is convinced that damage inflicted on some infrastructure was done for the sake of destruction."[10]
The report into the wider conflict concludes:[10]
Israel launched an investigation into the bombing and concluded that the incident was a case of "human error". The report says incorrectly copied military maps meant the post was wrongly identified, and Israeli aircraft attacked the post in the belief it was a Hezbollah position. Israel's foreign ministry spokesman, Mark Regev, assured that the report concludes the attack was human error and that the UN and relevant countries had been allowed to read the report. Israel did not make the report public.[1]
In 2008, a Canadian board of inquiry released a report on the attack. The report blamed the Israeli Defence Forces for the incident. It also stated that both the Israeli military and the UN refused to provide requested documents for the investigation, and Israel failed to make their investigation available to Canadian authorities. Instead, Israel provided a summary "which lacked sufficient detail to explore certain issues to their fullest extent."[46] Citing "security reasons", the Canadian report was removed from the Canadian government's website under Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper and has not been restored as of November 2023.[30] Major Paeta Hess-von Kruedener's widow, Cynthia, denounced this decision and accused Prime Minister Harper of shielding Israel.[47]
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."[48]
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."[33][49][50] However, von Kruedener's widow 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."[15]
As of 2023 the base remains in ruins. On its grounds is now a memorial consisting of two T-shaped walls with the portraits of the fallen UN peacekeepers hanging from it. In 2021, a ceremony was held at the site attended by representatives from the UN and the countries of the victims marking the 15th anniversary of the attack.[45]
The UNIFIL press releases mention dozen of attacks and near misses on its presence during the present conflict.[51] UNIFIL recorded a total of 30 instances of direct attacks and 208 "close firings" on UNIFIL positions by the IDF, and 6 direct attacks by Hezbollah.[10]
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.[65] In October 2006, a number of incidents between the Israeli Air Force and UN peacekeepers took place:
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