UN OBSERVER REPORTS HEZBOLLAH USES UN POSTS AS SHIELDS

Joel Kom, CanWest News Service; Ottawa Citizen; with files from Reuters

Published: Thursday, July 27, 2006

The words of a Canadian United Nations observer written just days before he was killed in an Israeli bombing of a UN post in Lebanon are evidence Hezbollah was using the post as a ''shield'' to fire rockets into Israel, says a former UN commander in Bosnia.

Those words, written in an e-mail dated just nine days ago, offer a possible explanation as to why the post which according to UN officials was clearly marked and known to Israeli forces was hit by Israel Tuesday night, said retired major general Lewis MacKenzie Wednesday.

The strike hit the UN observation post in the southern Lebanese village of El Khiam, killing Maj. Paeta Hess-von Kruedner, a Canadian serving at the post as an unarmed UN military observer, and three other UN observers.

Just last week, Hess-von Kruedner wrote an e-mail about his experiences after nine months in the area, words MacKenzie said are an obvious allusion to Hezbollah tactics.

''What I can tell you is this,'' he wrote in an e-mail to CTV dated July 18. ''We have on a daily basis had numerous occasions where our position has come under direct or indirect fire from both Israeli 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 rather due to tactical necessity.''

Those words, particularly the last sentence, are not-so-veiled language indicating Israeli strikes were aimed at Hezbollah targets near the post, said MacKenzie.

''What that means is, in plain English, 'We've got Hezbollah fighters running around in our positions, taking our positions here and then using us for shields and then engaging the Israeli Defence Forces,'' he said.

It's a tactic MacKenzie, who was the first UN commander in Sarajevo during the Bosnia civil war, said he's seen in past international missions: aside from UN posts, fighters would set up near hospitals, mosques and orphanages.

It's also one he would likely use if he was a ''belligerent'' and not a Canadian soldier, he said.

''The most important thing in combat these days, funnily enough, is not to win the firefight but to win the information battle and the PR battle,'' he said.

Hess-von Kruedner was a Canadian Forces infantry officer with the Edmonton-based Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry and the only Canadian serving as a UN military observer in Lebanon.

He was no stranger to fighting nearby.

The UN post, he wrote in the e-mail, afforded a view of the ''Hezbollah static positions in and around our patrol Base.''

''It appears that the lion's share of fighting between the IDF and Hezbollah has taken place in our area,'' he wrote, noting later it was too dangerous to venture out on patrols.

Retired major David Kilmartin, a Canadian soldier and UN commander in the Golan Heights when Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982, said Hess-von Kruedner's words indicate Hezbollah was certainly close by and Israel was targeting those fighters.

Kilmartin said Israel would not always send warnings to his UN troops when it was preparing an attack because it feared the UN sharing the information with others.

''What the Israelis would do would be the same thing we would do,'' he said.

However, Kilmartin says he believes the fatal bombing was deliberately done by a ''cowboy'' pilot who wasn't sanctioned to do so by his commanders.

''I think the individual who did it was a pilot who was a loose cannon on the deck,'' he said, adding the damage done indicated a direct hit. ''It's either that or he's a piss-poor pilot.''

Kilmartin said Israel would not always send warnings to his UN troops when it was preparing an attack because it feared the UN sharing the information with others.

''What the Israelis would do would be the same thing we would do,'' he said.

On Wednesday, a deputy head of UN peacekeeping told a closed-door meeting of the UN Security Council in New York that firing on and near the post continued despite ''repeated requests'' from the UN to the IDF to end it.

Jane Holl Lute said 21 strikes occurred within 300 metres of the patrol base, including 12 artillery rounds which fell within 100 metres four of which scored direct hits on the base, she said.

''To our knowledge, unlike in the vicinity of some of our other patrol bases, Hezbollah firing was not taking place within the immediate vicinity of the patrol base,'' she said.

Even if Hezbollah was not firing rockets at the time of the bombing, Hess-von Kruedner's e-mail indicates they were using a terrorist tactic of purposely drawing out enemy forces near a neutral site, said retired captain Peter Forsberg, who did two UN tours between 1993 and 1995 during the Bosnian war.

The UN's limited mandate, meaning that its observers are unarmed and have few options, put the dead observers in a poor position, he said.

If indeed Israel was attempting to hit Hezbollah fighters in the area, it hasn't yet used the excuse to explain its actions because it wouldn't make it any less guilty in the world's eyes, Forsberg said. Israel likely kept aiming near the post despite knowing it was there the current post has been standing since 1978 because they had their sights on the threat posed by Hezbollah.

''They don't care from where that threat comes, they're going to go at that threat whether or not it's beside a UN (observation post),'' he said.

However, Kilmartin says he believes the fatal bombing was deliberately done by a ''cowboy'' pilot who wasn't sanctioned to do so by his commanders.

''I think the individual who did it was a pilot who was a loose cannon on the deck,'' he said, adding the damage done indicated a direct hit. ''It's either that or he's a piss-poor pilot.''

Kilmartin said Israel would not always send warnings to his UN troops when it was preparing an attack because it feared the UN sharing the information with others.

''What the Israelis would do would be the same thing we would do,'' he said.

On Wednesday, a deputy head of UN peacekeeping told a closed-door meeting of the UN Security Council in New York that firing on and near the post continued despite ''repeated requests'' from the UN to the IDF to end it.

Jane Holl Lute said 21 strikes occurred within 300 metres of the patrol base, including 12 artillery rounds which fell within 100 metres four of which scored direct hits on the base, she said.

''To our knowledge, unlike in the vicinity of some of our other patrol bases, Hezbollah firing was not taking place within the immediate vicinity of the patrol base,'' she said.

Even if Hezbollah was not firing rockets at the time of the bombing, Hess-von Kruedner's e-mail indicates they were using a terrorist tactic of purposely drawing out enemy forces near a neutral site, said retired captain Peter Forsberg, who did two UN tours between 1993 and 1995 during the Bosnian war.

The UN's limited mandate, meaning that its observers are unarmed and have few options, put the dead observers in a poor position, he said.

If indeed Israel was attempting to hit Hezbollah fighters in the area, it hasn't yet used the excuse to explain its actions because it wouldn't make it any less guilty in the world's eyes, Forsberg said. Israel likely kept aiming near the post despite knowing it was there the current post has been standing since 1978 because they had their sights on the threat posed by Hezbollah.

''They don't care from where that threat comes, they're going to go at that threat whether or not it's beside a UN (observation post),'' he said.