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UN force in Lebanon again lodges protests as firing continues in its vicinity

30 July 2006


With heavy fighting continuing in southern Lebanon, the United Nations Interim Force (UNIFIL) there today again protested firing in the vicinity - which caused material damage and lightly wounded two blue helmets - to both the Israeli and Lebanese authorities. Five aerial rockets from the Israeli side impacted between 5 to 20 meters of a UNIFIL position in the area of Addaisseh yesterday afternoon, the mission reported. One exploded in the air above the position and two UNIFIL soldiers from the Indian battalion were moderately wounded and evacuated to the UNIFIL hospital in Ibil As Saqy. One artillery round from the Israeli side impacted directly inside the UNIFIL position in Mays Al Jabal. 

"And still, it continues ...": Lebanese bloggers react to massacre at Qana

Lebanon 30 July 2006


“The families will grieve. The children will grow up without their mothers. The memorial at Qana, already displaying the coffins of 106 civilian deaths, will swell by at least 55 more, at least 20 of them children’s sized. And the atrocities, tacitly and repeatedly permitted, will continue. ” Today in the Lebanese village of Qana, over 54 civilians, including at least 34 children, were killed in Israel’s most deadly strike on Lebanon since it began bombarding the country 19 days ago. The attack echoes Israel’s strike on the same village 10 years ago, when 100 civilians taking shelter in a UN base there. Here is a collection of posts made on Lebanese blogs in reaction to the massacre. 

Security Council must condemn Israeli attack in the strongest possible terms, Annan says

30 July 2006


UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan spoke at an emergency meeting of the Security Council which he convened after Israeli missiles hit Qana, killing at least 51 civilians, including many children. He said the council had a responsibility to demand an end to the violence. “Excellencies, we must condemn this action in the strongest possible terms, and I appeal to you to do likewise,” Annan said. Annan is deeply dismayed that his earlier calls for immediate cessation of hostilities were not heeded. Annan also referred to demonstrations in Beirut provoked by the Israeli assault on Qana. 

Umm Ibrahim only wants to bury her son

29 July 2006


“All I want from the world now is to take me back to my hometown, Srifa, [90 kilometres south of Beirut], where my youngest son, Bilal [25], is buried under rubble. My mouth is sore from talking to the press. I don’t want to see any of you, unless you take me back to hold Bilal, wash him, and bury him decently. “My son’s body, along with those of seven of my nephews, has been left for 11 days under our house, which was demolished over their heads in an Israeli raid. “My husband and son, Ibrahim, tried to reach him when we heard the house was destroyed, but when they saw the war planes coming back, they had to flee. 

Chasing oil and coming home to another massacre

Zena El-Khalil Beirut 30 July 2006


I had a really bad headache all day … we were driving on the coastal road, stopped every few minutes to document. The smell was so strong. When I got home, I blew my nose and the tissue was all black. I made sure to take a really good shower. We were going to send out the press release, pics and video today, but we got even worse news … There had been a massacre in Qana early this morning. History repeats itself. The Israelis dropped a bomb on a building that was sheltering refugees. The news at this point is that 55 were killed. It was only a few years ago that the Israelis did the same thing, except last time, it was a UN building that they hit and over 100 people were killed. 

Qana massacre provokes crowd attack on UN building

30 July 2006


Lebanese citizens responded with fury at the news that more than 50 people were killed in an Israeli strike on a house in the southern town of Qana on Sunday. Across the nation, Lebanese woke up to graphic pictures of at least 37 dead children being removed from the rubble of a destroyed house. Days and weeks of frustration at the slow progress being made to resolve this conflict at the higher political level culminated in an impromptu mass convergence at the UN building in Beirut. As far as many ordinary Lebanese are concerned, Qana is the last straw. “We are used to Zionist massacres,” says Hani Mansour, a protester outside the UN building. 

Photostory: Gaza protests Israel's assault on Lebanon

30 July 2006


Today, Palestinians in Gaza demonstrated against Israel’s military assault in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip in front of the European Union office in Gaza City. In Gaza Palestinian artists have painted a mural during the demonstration. The EU Council of Foreign Ministers will hold an extraordinary meeting in Brussels on Tuesday in order to assess the situation in Lebanon and to prepare further EU action following the International Conference on Lebanon in Rome on 26 July. Finland’s Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, whose country holds the current EU presidency, and EU Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner will report on their visit to the region. 

Extrajudicial execution: Israeli special forces kill two Palestinians in Nablus

30 July 2006


On Saturday evening, 29 July 2006, IOF extra-judicially killed a member of the al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad, and a civilian who accompanied him. In the meantime, IOF have continued their wide scale offensive on the Gaza Strip for the fifth consecutive week, committing more crimes against Palestinian civilian and property. At approximately 08:30 on Saturday, 29 July 2006, an IOF undercover unit moved into Sheikh Musallam quarter in the old town of Nablus. IOF soldiers immediately opened fire from a close range from pistols equipped with silencers at two young men, who were sitting near a carpentry workshop. 

Qana again: Israel's war on civilians

Arjan El Fassed 30 July 2006


Today, when Israeli war planes attacked Qana, at least 54 civilians, including at least 27 children, were killed. It is the deadliest single strike since Israel unleashed its war on Lebanon. Israel, the US and several European governments are in no rush to reach a ceasefire. Dozens of other villages in the region around the southern port city of Tyre were also bombarded for two hours overnight with fire from the Israeli navy, air force and artillery. Israeli planes also tore up the Masnaa border crossing into Syria, leading to the closure of the main Damascus-Beirut route. Israeli bombardments have been directed at targets regardless of the consequences for civilians. 

Mass burial of unclaimed bodies in Tyre

29 July 2006


Lebanese authorities buried 32 unclaimed bodies in a mass grave in wasteland outside Tyre on Saturday. The Lebanese soldiers retch as they unload maggot-infested body bags into coffins laid out for the mass burial. The bodies had lain unrecovered for up to ten days in the burned-out shells of cars, or scattered around the devastated villages of south Lebanon. “We just cannot hold onto them anymore,” says Salman Zaynadeen, director of a hospital in the al-Bas Palestinian camp in Tyre, where the bodies of villagers recovered this week were taken for storage. Weeping over the pieces of rubble her family collected to mark the grave of their loved one, Mihal Watfa pleads for a ceasefire.