Israel troops 'ignored' UN plea

[Tulameen]

UN peacekeepers in south Lebanon contacted Israeli troops 10 times before an Israeli bomb killed four of them, an initial UN report says.

The post was hit by a precision-guided missile after six hours of shelling, diplomats familiar with the probe say.

UN-led crisis talks in Rome ended with no agreement to urge an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

In the latest fighting, up to 13 Israeli soldiers were reported killed in southern Lebanon on Wednesday.

Israel has not confirmed any deaths from among its soldiers, but says there have been 20 casualties in the clashes around the town of Bint Jbail.

More than 400 Lebanese and 42 Israelis have died in two weeks of conflict, which began after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on 12 July.

In other developments:

* A Jordanian military plane arrived in Beirut to evacuate some of the most seriously wounded Lebanese civilians

* Ten lorries loaded with food and medical supplies arrived in the southern town of Tyre from the capital, Beirut

* Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah warned on TV that his organisation would begin firing rockets further south into Israel than Haifa

.

Israeli regrets

The four unarmed UN observers from Austria, Canada, China and Finland, died after their UN post in the town of Khiam was hit by an Israeli air strike on Tuesday.

The UN report says each time the UN contacted Israeli forces, they were assured the firing would stop.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has expressed "deep regrets" over the deaths.

Israel is conducting an investigation into the deaths.

It has rejected accusations made by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan that the targeting of the UN position was "apparently deliberate".

White House spokesman Tony Snow said "something went really wrong" to cause the deaths, but also said there was no reason to suggest the bombing was deliberate.

'Utmost urgency'

The Rome summit, called by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, brought together EU and Arab nations plus the US and Russia, but not Israel, Iran or Syria.

The conference released a declaration expressing "determination to work immediately to reach with utmost urgency a ceasefire to put an end to the current hostilities".

It also said a ceasefire "must be lasting, permanent and sustainable".

The statement called for an international force with a UN mandate for south Lebanon, and the full implementation of existing UN Security Council resolutions calling for the disarming of militias and deployment of Lebanese troops in the border region.

Mr Annan said it was important to work with the countries of the region, including Syria and Iran, to find a solution to the crisis.

But Condoleezza Rice was critical of the role of both countries.

"It's not a question of talking to Syria, it's whether Syria's prepared to act," she said.

In an impassioned speech, Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora warned that more people would die if the ceasefire was delayed, and called for a Lebanese-Israeli prisoner exchange as part of plan to end the fighting.


Story from BBC NEWS:
news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/5217176.stm

Published: 2006/07/26 14:39:55 GMT

© BBC MMVI

[Tulameen]

Israeli leader expresses regret at tragedy, talks in Rome fail

BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) -- A diplomatic furor erupted Wednesday after four U.N. observers died in southern Lebanon in what the U.N. secretary-general said was an "apparently deliberate" Israeli airstrike.

Israel angrily denied the accusation.

The U.N. observers were killed when an Israeli bomb made a direct hit on their bunker in southern Lebanon on Tuesday. They had called an Israeli military liaison about 10 times in the six hours before they died to warn that the aerial attacks were getting close to their position, according to a U.N. officer. (Full story)

Lebanese security sources told CNN Wednesday at least three precision-guided bombs were dropped by Israeli aircraft on the U.N. observers' bunker.

A Western diplomat familiar with preliminary U.N. assessments of the scene also said that it appeared the munition that hit the bunker was precision-guided.

But Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni denied that the strike was deliberate.

"Of course it was not a deliberate action," she said.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and "expressed his regret at this tragedy in Lebanon."

Annan was attending tense diplomatic talks with key Middle East figures in Rome. Those negotiations -- being held to agree to a plan to halt the hostilities in Lebanon -- have failed, according to sources involved in the talks and sources in Jerusalem and Washington.

The stormy meeting, which saw the United States pitted against European and Arab leaders, resulted in calls for a truce but little concrete action to end the fighting. (Watch leaders outline their differences -- 8:43)

The talks had been made even more urgent by the observers' deaths, in what Annan called an "apparently deliberate" strike that "deeply distressed" him.

"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.

The airstrike came as Israeli forces continued to battle Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon, seeking to end the Islamic militia's rocket attacks on northern Israel.

At least 398 Lebanese people, the large majority civilians, have been killed and as many as 1,486 wounded since strikes began, Lebanese security officials said Wednesday.

The Israeli military said 41 people have been killed -- 19 civilians and 22 soldiers -- and more than 300 civilians and more than 60 soldiers have been wounded. Those figures do not include the casualties suffered by Israeli forces in intense fighting near the southern Lebanese city of Bint Jbeil on Wednesday.

The conflict began July 12 when Hezbollah militants killed three Israeli soldiers and seized two in a cross-border raid.
'Caught in the middle'

Daniel Ayalon, Israel's ambassador to the United States, said that "UNIFIL obviously got caught in the middle" of a gunfight between Hezbollah guerrillas 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.

UNIFIL sent a rescue-and-medical team to the city of Khiyam, where the post was located. Attacks in the vicinity continued as rescuers tried to reach those killed or injured, UNIFIL said.

UNIFIL said at least 14 incidents of fire have happened near the post since Tuesday afternoon.
Airlift of relief supplies begins

Two Jordanian military planes landed at Beirut International Airport on Wednesday to deliver medical supplies, a Lebanese security source said.

The first plane, which landed Wednesday morning, carried a Jordanian field hospital, the source said. Two more planes were expected Wednesday.

These are the first planes to land at the Beirut airport since Israeli bombs struck its runways early in the fighting.

Israeli officials agreed Tuesday to expand measures to get humanitarian aid into Lebanon, including landing airplanes at Beirut's airport with advanced coordination and opening corridors in Lebanon to deliver aid.
Hezbollah leader's threat

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Wednesday threatened again to take the fight "beyond Haifa."

Haifa is an Israeli port city that has been frequently targeted by Hezbollah rocket attacks.

Nasrallah also alleged that Israel and the United States had planned to invade Lebanon later this year but put the plan into effect early after Hezbollah seized the two Israeli soldiers.

Olmert on Wednesday said his country wants to establish a strip of land in south Lebanon a little more than a mile wide that will be free of Hezbollah guerrillas -- giving the dimensions of Israel's new "security zone" for the first time, The Associated Press reported.

No letup in the fighting

Israeli soldiers battled Hezbollah fighters in and around Bint Jbeil in southern Lebanon early Wednesday, a day after the Israeli military announced it had taken control of the village, Israeli military sources said.

There were 10 casualties among the Israeli troops, Israeli sources said. Arab TV networks reported at least nine Israeli soldiers had been killed.

Israeli troops have pushed into southern Lebanon trying to reduce Hezbollah's capability to fire Katyusha rockets into northern Israel.

Hezbollah militants launched 37 Katyusha rockets into northern Israel Wednesday morning, wounding 14 people -- one seriously -- Israeli police said.

In northern Gaza, meanwhile, Israeli tank artillery fire killed seven people Wednesday morning, Palestinian sources said.

An IDF spokesman said the military carried out an airstrike on militants in Gaza but did not confirm any tank shelling.

CNN's Brent Sadler, Nic Robertson, Marcia Biggs, John King, Karl Penhaul, John Roberts and Fionnuala Sweeney contributed to this report.

Copyright 2006 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.


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