Khiam

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Khiam (in araboالخيام; pronunciabile al-Khiyām) è un villaggio che si trova nel Governatorato del Sud Libano. Si trova nel sud del Libano, 750 metri sopra il livello del mare, a circa 100 Km da Beirut ed approssimativamente a 4 chilometri dalla frontiera israeliana. La popolazione é formata per il 90% da musulmani sciiti e per il 10% da cristiani.

Il villaggio divenne il centro di un conflitto maggiore tra l'esercito israeliano e i combattenti di Hezbollah durante il conflitto israelo-libanese del 2006. È abbastanza famoso per essere il luogo in cui sorgeva il centro di detenzione di Khiam, aperto dall' Esercito Libanese del Sud durante l' occupazione israeliana del Libano.

Durante il conflitto del 2006 tra Israele e Libano, si verificò un gravissimo attacco israeliano contro il personale delle Nazioni Unite, con il bombardamento demolitivo di una postazione di osservazione fortificata e l'uccisione di 4 soldati dell'ONU ivi presenti.

Si presume che gli Israeliani abbiano lanciato su Khiam ordigni sperimentali all' uranio arricchito, di produzione statunitense.

Indice 1 Operazioni dell' ONU nel sud del Libano 2 Attacco del 25 luglio 2005 contro il posto di osservazione dell'ONU 2.1 Attacco israeliano a Khiam 2.2 Osservatori ONU, vittime del'attacco 2.3 Reazioni internazionali 2.4 Investigazione nel bombardamento 2.4.1 Messaggio e-mail del 18 luglio 3 Other incidents 4 Totale delle vittime 5 Fonti 6 Collegamenti esterni 7 Voci correlate 8 Collegamenti esterni

[modifica] Operazioni dell' ONU nel sud del Libano

L' United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, nota con la sigla UNIFIL, venne creata dalle Nazioni Unite, in base all'adozione delle Risoluzioni n° 425 e 426 del suo Consiglio di Sicurezza del 19 marzo 1978, per garantire il ritiro israeliano dal Libano, per restaurare la pace e la sicurezza internazionale e aiutare il governo libanese a riaffermare la sua effettiva autorità nell'area.^[1] Le prime truppe dell'UNIFIL giunsero nell'area il 23 marzo 1978; queste truppe sono state riassegnate ad altre operazioni di peacekeeping dell' ONU (vale a dire l'UNEF e l'UNDOF).^[1]

Durante la guerra del Libano del 1982, le posizioni dell'ONU vennero scavalvate, principalmente dalle forze comandate “de facto” dal maggiore Haddad. Queste erano forze indigene libanesi cristiane che venivano sostenute dalla IDF israeliana.^[2] Il ruolo principale della UNIFIL era di portare cibo ed altri aiuti alla popolazione locale del Libano Meridionale. Nel 1999, Israele intraprese un ritiro completo, che si concluse nel 2000 e permise all'UNIFIL di riprendere i suoi compiti militari. Su richiesta del governo libanese, nel gennaio del January 2006 la ONU estese il periodo del mandato dell'UNIFIL che stava per finire il 31 luglio del 2006. ^[3]

[modifica] Attacco del 25 luglio 2005 contro il posto di osservazione dell'ONU

[modifica] Attacco israeliano a Khiam

Il 25 luglio del 2006 quattro osservatori disarmati della United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO), nazionali dell'Austria, Cina, Finlandia e Canada vennero uccisi da un bombardamento aereo israeliano contro un posto di osservazione ONU nel sud del Libano. Secondo l'ONU, i quattro si erano rifugiati in un bunker sottostante alla torre di osservazione, che era un edificio di tre piani all'interno di una base di pattugliamento situato nella località Khiyam.^[4] Era stato colpito 14 volte dall'artiglieria israeliana in un periodo di 6 ore, durante il quale la postazione contattò un tenente di collegamento israeliano per ben 10 volte, per chiedere la cessazione del bombardamento che subivano. Secondo un ufficiale dell'ONU che aveva visto il rapporto preliminare, un ufficiale israeliano promise di cessare il bombardamento ogni volta.^[5]

A UNIFIL rescue team was immediately dispatched to the scene. They recovered the bodies of three observers from the rubble under fire from the IDF.^[6]Attack in the vicinity continued as rescuers tried to reach those killed or injured, UNIFIL said. UNIFIL said there had been at least 14 incidents of fire close to the post since afternoon. Daniel 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."We do not have yet confirmation what caused these deaths. It could be (Israel Defense Forces). It could be Hezbollah," he said.^[7]

[modifica] Osservatori ONU, vittime del'attacco

By 8 August 2006, the bodies of observers had been retrieved and identified. The four victims of the attack are:

• Lieutenant Colonel Du Zhaoyu (杜照宇), 34, from Jinan, People's Republic of China. He had served as secretary to the military attache in the Chinese Embassy in India.^[8]
• Lieutenant-Commander Jarno Mäkinen, 29, from Kaarina, Finland. Lt Cdr Mäkinen was a former unit commander in the Uusimaa Brigade. ^[9]
• Major Paeta Derek Hess-von Kruedener, a member of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry. He had previously served in Cyprus, Bosnia and Congo before serving in UNTSO from October 2005.^[10]
• Major Hans-Peter Lang, 44, from Styria, Austria.^[11]

[modifica] Reazioni internazionali

Il segretario generale dell'ONU Kofi Annan affermò in una dichiarazione da Roma che si sentiva "…scioccato e profondamente turbato dall'apparentemente deliberato attacco da parte delle Israeli Defence Forces."^[12]"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." Ayalon called Annan's statement "outrageous," while Israel's U.N. ambassador, Dan Gillerman, said he, too, was "deeply distressed" that Annan alleged that the strike was deliberate. "I am surprised at these premature and erroneous assertions made by the secretary-general, who while demanding an investigation, has already issued its conclusions," Gillerman said in a statement.^[7]The site of the observation post was well known, and both sides in the conflict had the coordinates of the compound.^{[citazione necessaria]} However, as at the time Annan had no evidence for the bombing being deliberate, many pundits described Annan’s statement as indicative of the UN's anti-Israel bias.^{[13][14][15][16][17][18]}

However, Ireland’s Foreign Ministry said that a senior Irish soldier working for the UN forces was in contact with the Israelis six times to warn them that their bombardment was endangering the lives of UN staff.^[19]

Ireland has filed an official protest with Israel. China has also demanded that Israel apologize for the attack. 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. ^[20]

On 26 July 2006, Israeli 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”.^[21] The Israeli ambassador to the UN, Dan Gillerman, ruled out major U.N. involvement in any potential international force in Lebanon, saying that more professional and better-trained troops were needed for such a volatile situation.^[22]

On 27 July, the United Nations 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.^[23]

A representative of Human Rights Watch said in an interview with BBC News that they are investigating the incident as a possible crimine di guerra.^{[citazione necessaria]}

[modifica] Investigazione nel bombardamento

L'alto comando israeliano ha promosso un indagine sul bombardamento ed ha concluso che il fatto è stato dovuto ad un tragico errore. Il rapporto sostiene che delle mappe militari difettose portarono all'erronea identificazione della postazione come un caposaldo dei Hezbollah, ed a categorizzarlo come un bersaglio. Il portavoce del ministro degli esteri israeliano, Mark Regev, affermò che il rapporto concludeva che l'attacco era un tragico errore, uno msbaglio, e che gli aerei israeliani attaccarono la postazione, convinti che fosse stata occupata dai Hezbollah.

[modifica] Messaggio e-mail del 18 luglio

In an email dated 18 July received by CTV and published 24 July, the deceased Canadian peacekeeper Major Paeta Hess-von Kruedener, stated: “What I can tell you is this: we have on a daily basis had numerous occasions where our position has come under direct or indirect fire from both 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 has rather been due to tactical necessity.”^[24]

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. What he was telling us was Hezbollah fighters were all over his position and the IDF were targeting them.”^{[15][25] [26]} However, Major Paeta Hess-von Kruedener's widow Cynthia stated on 29 July that she blamed the IDF for her husband’s death. She said “Why did they bomb the UN site? In my opinion, those are precision-guided missiles [so] then that it is intentional.…And that wasn’t the only day they were firing on that base. My information from him [her husband] is that week upon week they had been firing on there, bombing near it.”^[27] It has not been determined as of yet if the munitions were guided or not.^{[citazione necessaria]}

[modifica] Other incidents

The UNIFIL press releases mention dozen of attacks and near misses on its presence during the present conflict.

• UN personnel were pelted with stones by an angry Lebanese crowd after recovering bodies from the aftermath of an IAF airstrike on a convoy fleeing Marwaheen close to Tyre.^[28]
• Shrapnel from tank shells fired by the IDF seriously wounded an Indian soldier on 16 July.^[29]
• A UNIFIL international staff member and his wife were killed after an IAF airstrike on the Hosh area of Tyre where they lived on July 17.^[30] Their bodies were recovered from the rubble on July 26.^[31]
• Hezbollah fire wounded an Italian OGL observer on the border on July 23.^[32]
• An IDF tank shell hit a UNIFIL position south of Rmaich on Monday 24 July, wounding four Ghananian soldiers.^[33]
• On July 25, Hezbollah opened fire on a UNIFIL convoy, forcing it to retreat.^[33]
• On 29 July, two Indian UN soldiers were wounded after an IAF airstrike on their post.^[34]
• On 30 July, following an airstrike on a house in Qana where 28 civilians are confirmed killed with 13 missing, thousands of Lebanese protesters who had reportedly gathered spontaneously in the city centre attacked the UN building in Beirut along with UN staff.^[35][36]
• On 6 August, a Hezbollah rocket hit the headquarters of the Chinese UNIFIL contingent, injuring three Chinese peacekeepers.^[37]

• On 6 August, UNIFIL announced that “[s]ince the outbreak of hostilities, four military observers from OGL, one UNIFIL international staff member and his wife were killed, and four Ghanaian soldiers, three Indian soldiers, three Chinese soldiers and one OGL military observer were wounded as a result of firing.”^[37]

• On 12 August, UNIFIL announced that a Ghanaian peacekeeper had been wounded by IDF artillery fire near the southern village of Haris.^[38]

• On 14 August, the IDF targeted what it said was a Palestinian faction in the Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp in Saida. Two missiles were fired into a civilian residential area and killed UNRWA staff member Mr. Abdel Saghir.^[39]

Meanwhile, the United Nations Security Council failed to agree on a statement responding to the Israeli attack after the United States refused to accept language condemning: "any deliberate attack against U.N. personnel."'^[40]

INTEGRATE taken from Targeting of civilian areas in the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict

The United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon (UNIFIL) was created by the United Nations, to confirm Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, restore the international peace and security, and help the Lebanese Government restore its effective authority in the area. During the current (as in past conflicts; see Qana shelling) the peacekeeping force has come under attack from both sides^{[citazione necessaria]}, but mainly from Israeli forces. ^[41] About 50 members of the unarmed UNTSO are being evacuated to lightly armed UNIFIL positions for security reasons.^[42]

The worst of these came on 25 July 2006, when four unarmed UNTSO peacekeepers from Austria, China, Finland and Canada were killed in an Israeli air strike on a UN observation post in southern Lebanon. According to the UN, the four had taken shelter in a bunker under the post. It had been shelled 14 times by Israeli artillery over a period of 6 hours, during which the post called an Israeli liasion officer ten times to call off the bombardement. Every time he promised to do so.^[43] Secretary General Kofi Annan said in a statement from Rome that he was " ... shocked and deeply distressed by the apparently deliberate targeting by Israeli Defense Forces."^[44] The site of the observation post was well known, and both sides in the conflict had the coordinates of the compound.^{[citazione necessaria]} However, as at the time Annan had no evidence for the bombing being deliberate, many pundits described Annan’s statement as indicative of the UN's anti-Israel bias.^{[45][46][15][47][48][49]} In press releases by UNIFIL on 26 July and 27 July it is noted that Hezbollah had been firing from close to 4 UNIFIL positions in Alma ash Shab, Tibnin Brashit and At Tiri. ^[50][51] Ireland's Foreign Ministry said a senior Irish soldier working for the UN forces was in contact with the Israelis six times to warn them that their bombardment was endangering the lives of U.N. staff and on several occasions they were reassured that it will.^[52][53]

According to an interview on CBC radio and multiple print sources, Retired Canadian Major General Lewis MacKenzie, referring to an email he had received a few days previously from the now deceased Canadian peacekeeper Major Paeta Hess-von Kruedener, stated that "...what he was telling us was Hezbollah fighters were all over his position and the IDF were (sic) targeting them and that's a favorite trick by people who don't have representation in the UN. They use the UN as shields knowing that they can't be punished for it." ^[54][55] -->

[modifica] Totale delle vittime

Paese	Civili	Militari
Austria		1 morto
Canada		1 morto
Cina (Repubblica Popolare Cinese)		1 morto 3 feriti
Finlandia		1 morto
Ghana		5 feriti
India		3 feriti
Italia		1 ferito
Nigeria	1 morto
Totale	1 morto	4 morti 12 feriti

[modifica] Fonti

[modifica] Collegamenti esterni

• (EN) Mappa che mostra il dispegamento delle truppe dell' UNIFIL e dove morirono gli osservatori dell'ONU uccisi dalla IDF.

[modifica] Voci correlate

• Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite
• Il sistema Nazioni Unite
• Conflitto israelo-libanese (2006)
• IDF
• Israele
• Libano
• Nazioni Unite
• UNIFIL

[modifica] Collegamenti esterni

• Rainews24: bombe all'uranio arricchito lanciate su Khiam ?