An incorrect map and communications failure led to an Israeli air strike on a UN observer post that killed four peacekeepers, including a Canadian, CBC News has learned.This is the newest version of events by the State of Isreal.
Israeli officials briefed CBC News on the contents of an internal Israeli Defence Forces report concerning the July 25 strike that killed Maj. Paeta Hess-von Kruedener — a Canadian Forces veteran from Kingston, Ont. — and three others.
According to the confidential report, Israeli artillery were using a hand-drawn map that identified the clearly marked UN post in the Khiyam area of southern Lebanon as a base for the militant organization Hezbollah.
"The report points to the fact that there was an error on our side in the maps that were done manually at the time of the combat," said Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev.
"The UN position — we had it as a Hezbollah target. This was an error."
How could it have been an error when Isreal was planning the invasion of Lebanon with the United Stated months before.
The strike happened during the 34-day conflict in July and August between Israel and Hezbollah.
UN warnings never relayed to air force so Isreal says
The report confirms Israeli forces received a number of warnings from the United Nations urging them to stop shooting so close to the base. An earlier report from the United Nations said their observers in Lebanon had contacted the Israeli Defence Forces at least 10 times prior to the bombing.
The messages were received by Israeli forces on the ground, who stopped firing on the post, said the Israeli report.
But it appears the warnings were not received by the Israeli air force, who fired on the base.
Hezbollah fighters were active in the area around the post and the bodies of 17 Hezbollah fighters were later discovered, the report said.
Hess-von Kruedener — a 43-year-old who had two decades of experience with the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, including in Cyprus and Bosnia-Herzegovina — had joined the UN Truce Supervision Organization in Lebanon in October. The attack also killed UN observers from Austria, China and Finland.
Ambassadors and military attachés from Canada, Austria, China and Finland were invited to the Israeli Defence Ministry on Thursday to receive the report.
Israel was trying to show expressed regret
Israel expressed regret over the bombing and rejected an initial accusation by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan that it was an "apparently deliberate act."
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to assure him there would be an investigation into the incident, and Mr Harper who now follows the lead of the United States and who is a full supporter of Isreal and war with injustice, im sure kissed their ass by saying no problem.
The UN was criticized for failing to remove the peacekeepers from the area during the conflict. Following the destruction of the post, the UN pulled out 50 unarmed observers from along the border between Israel and Lebanon. Isreal was very happy with this so that way there are no witnesses to their genocide.
The conflict began after Hezbollah militants crossed into Israel and attacked an Israeli military post. They killed eight Israeli soldiers and seized two others, who were attemting to do something that would break international law. The soldiers alive, their fates remains unknown.
Israel responded with air strikes in southern Lebanon following the killing of many innocent people and genocide of the people of Lebanon, while Hezbollah militants sent thousands of rockets into northern Israeli towns and communities to fight off the invasion.
The conflict ended in mid-August with a UN-brokered ceasefire that put an international peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon.
0 Have Your Say!:
Post a Comment