International incidents during the 2006 Lebanon War
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.
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.
[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.
[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.
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.
[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.
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."
"[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.
[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.
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".
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.
[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.
[30] Major Paeta Hess-von Kruedener's widow, Cynthia, denounced this decision and accused Prime Minister Harper of shielding Israel.
"[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.
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.
