CBC : Map 'error' led to strike on UN post, Israel says

Map 'error' led to strike on UN post, Israel says

CBC News | September 14, 2006

An internal Israeli military report concludes an air strike on a UN observer post in Lebanon that killed four peacekeepers, including a Canadian, was a tragic accident, CBC News has learned.

A briefing on an Israeli Defence Forces report, obtained by CBC News, said the July 25 strike that killed Maj. Paeta Hess-von Kruedener — a Canadian Forces veteran from Kingston, Ont. — and three others occurred because Israeli ground forces were using an incorrect map.

Based on information in the briefing, 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, who gave the briefing to the CBC.
"The UN position — we had it as a Hezbollah target. This was an error."

The strike happened during the 34-day conflict in July and August between Israel and Hezbollah.

UN warnings never relayed to air force

The briefing says 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 message was received by Israeli forces on the ground, who stopped firing on the post, said the Israeli briefing. However, it appears the warnings were not received by the Israeli air force.

The briefing says Hezbollah fighters were active in the area around the post and the bodies of 17 Hezbollah fighters were later discovered.

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.

The full Israeli report is to be delivered to diplomats from Canada, Austria, China and Finland on Thursday.

Israel 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.

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.

The conflict began after Hezbollah militants crossed into Israel and attacked an Israeli military post. They killed eight Israeli soldiers and seized two others, whose fate remains unknown.

Israel responded with air strikes in southern Lebanon, while Hezbollah militants sent thousands of rockets into northern Israeli towns and communities.

The conflict ended in mid-August with a UN-brokered ceasefire that put an international peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon.