Israeli warplanes kill U.N. peacekeepers
Israeli warplanes bombarded a U.N. post in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, killing three peacekeepers and leaving another feared dead in a strike that Secretary-General Kofi Annan termed “apparently deliberate.”The bombing capped a violent day that included the death of a 15-year-old Israeli girl from a Hezbollah rocket in a northern Galilee town and renewed Israeli airstrikes in and around Beirut.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert today expressed “deep regret” over the killings and said the peacekeepers were killed mistakenly. He spoke on the phone with Annan, expressing dismay over Annan’s accusation and promising a thorough investigation, according to Olmert’s office.
United Nations officials said their observation post near the village of Khiam took a direct hit late Tuesday in an Israeli airstrike.
It seems quite unlikely to me that Israel would purposefully kill U.N. observers, there is no benefit to that for them that I can see. Given that, I think Annan’s statement is very irresponsible unless he has some evidence to back it up. If he has that evidence, it seems incumbent that he produce it.
I wouldn’t be surprised of course if the pilot hit what he aimed for, just surprised that he knew it was U.N. peacekeepers he was firing on when he did so.
