French UN peacekeeper killed by Israeli fire in Hezbollah

[Flagg]

FRENCH UN PEACEKEEPER KILLED BY ISRAELI FIRE IN HEZBOLLAH CLASHES
Received Sunday, 9 January 2005 14:56:00 GMT


RASHAYA, Lebanon, Jan 9 (AFP) - A French UN peacekeeper was killed in southern Lebanon by Israeli fire Sunday in cross-border clashes between Israel and the Hezbollah militia, UN officials said.
The Lebanese Shiite Muslim militia also claimed to have killed an Israeli soldier in the fighting, but there was no confimation of this from the Israeli side.
The French UN peacekeeper's patrol was hit by shrapnel from an Israeli round near the disputed Shebaa Farms area, Lebanese police said, amid a series of retaliatory air raids triggered by Hezbollah fire.
A spokesman for the UN force in Lebanon said that the French officer, working with the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) had been killed while a Swedish observer and their Lebanese driver were wounded.
The spokesman, Milos Srwjer, said the men had been killed by fire from the "Israeli side of the Blue Line" that the United Nations drew up to serve as the border between Lebanon and Israel.

http://www.ttc.org/200501091456.j09euer21698.htm

Yet another reason to love the Israelis...

[Scurrilous]

1. UN observer, Israeli officer killed

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/20A81125-D1B5-4187-9971-8A20E26DBF83.htm

<snip>

"A French member of a UN patrol has been killed in an Israeli air raid in south Lebanon after a roadside bomb killed an Israeli officer and wounded three soldiers in a disputed area on the Lebanese frontier.

The UN patrol was hit by Israeli fire near the Shebaa Farms area on Sunday, Lebanese police said. A Swedish UN peacekeeper and a Lebanese driver were also injured, police said.

Earlier, the Lebanese resistance group Hizb Allah said it carried out the blast targeting a troop carrier in the Shebaa Farms, Aljazeera reported.

"Our fighters blew up a very powerful charge in the path of an armoured vehicle near an Israeli position known as Zebdin in the occupied Shebaa Farms," Al-Manar television said."

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

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[bemildred]

3. Sounds almost Iraq-like.

IEDs, undisciplined return fire, etc. Sharon's withdrawal is going to have
implementation difficulties if things get hot on the Northern border again.

[Scurrilous]

4. UN blames Hezbollah for death of French observer in Lebanon

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/524803.html

<snip>

"A United Nations official said Monday that Hezbollah bears primary responsibility for the death of a French UN observer on the Israel-Lebanon border, killed in heavy exchanges of fire Sunday between the Lebanon-based militant group and Israel Defense Forces soldiers.

The firefight began after an IDF officer was killed when his armored jeep hit an explosive device during a routine patrol in the Har Dov region of the northern border with Lebanon. Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the attack.

Sources in Lebanon said the French observer was killed by IDF tank fire. But UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special representative for South Lebanon, Staffan de Mistura, said after meeting with Lebanese President Emile Lahoud that the UN "can not forget that the event began with attack across the border."

De Mistura added that the UN is "very concerned by what happened at the border and the Hezbollah attack across the border," and called on both sides to show restraint.
"We are asking all sides to contain their actions and to control their actions on the ground," said de Mistura."