Posted on 06/17/2007 11:44:05 AM PDT by anotherview
Jun. 17, 2007 17:33 | Updated Jun. 17, 2007 21:16>B>
UNIFIL: Katyusha fire is 'serious breach' of cease-fire
By YAAKOV KATZ, JPOST.COM STAFF AND AP
Talkbacks for this article: 17
UN peacekeeping force in South Lebanon (UNIFIL) called Sunday's Katyusha rocket attack from Lebanon into Israel a "serious breach" of cease-fire, and urged all parties to exercise maximum restraint.
"Today's rocket attack from south Lebanon is considered a serious violation of Security Council Resolution 1701 and serious breach of cessation of hostilities agreement," said Yasmina Bouziane, a spokeswoman for the UN Interim Force in Lebanon.
The UN reaction coincided with a demand by a high ranking IDF officer in the Northern Command that UNIFIL take action and fulfill its mandate to prevent further attacks into Israel's sovereign territory.
Earlier Sunday evening, four Katyusha rockets were fired on Kiryat Shmona, causing damage but no injuries.
The officer said that the IDF was still checking intelligence reports in an attempt to find out who stood behind Sunday's attack.
"Our claims to UNIFIL and the LAF that weapons have been smuggled into Lebanon have turned out to be true," the officer said. "We expect UNFIIL to fulfill their mandate and the LAF to take responsibility over what is happening in southern Lebanon," he added.
Two or three rockets landed in Kiryat Shmona while one hit Lebanese territory.
In response, one government official who was traveling with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in New York said that Israel would show restraint in its response to a rocket attack.
"This is an attempt to provoke Israel into a response," the official said. "Israel will not succumb to this provocation but will monitor the situation carefully." The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.
Estimates within the IDF were that the rockets were fired not by Hizbullah but by a Palestinian splinter group, possibly one that is affiliated with Hamas, operating from Lebanese soil.
Another option considered was that the group launching the rockets was an offshoot of al Qaida.
Hizbullah had no connection at all to the Katyusha attack, the guerilla organization announced Sunday evening.
The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) reported that the rockets were launched by a Palestinian group, while Lebanese television said that the rockets were fired from the Lebanese village of Taibeh.
The privately owned Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation LBC channel said the village of Taibeh overlooks Kiryat Shmona.
UNIFIL and LAF troops set up checkpoints throughout southern Lebanon in an attempt to capture the perpetarators of the attack, Channel 2 reported.
A short while later, the Lebanese army discovered an additional rocket that was set to be launched on Israel and prevented it from being fired, Lebanon's military said in a statement.
The army blamed the attack on "unknown elements," the statement said.
Immediately following the attack, the MDA chief in the area raised the level of alert throughout northern Israel to its highest level. MDA teams treated one woman who suffered from shock.
Defense Minister Amir Peretz updated Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, currently in New York, on the attack and convened security officials for a special meeting, scheduled to take place at 7:00 p.m., to discuss the developments in the North as well as the South.
One Kiryat Shmona resident who witnessed the Katyusha strike described what she saw in an interview with Channel 2.
"I heard a huge boom, and saw a giant mushroom cloud," she said. "I can't believe we are going back to the same situation that we had one year ago."
The mayor of the town, Haim Barbivai, echoed her sentiment, calling for a tough response from both the Israeli and Lebanese governments.
"Heaven help us if we have another summer like the last one. That would be a tragedy," he told Channel 2.
In late 2005, several Katyusha rockets were fired into Israel, but later were found to have been launched not by Hizbullah but by a Palestinian group affiliated with al-Qaida.
ping. UNIFIL= Useless Nations Ignore Fighting In Lebanon
Maybe if they ask politely,the terrorists will just surrender the rockets to them.The IDF should reduce the area to a moonscape.
Maybe if they ask politely,the terrorists will just surrender the rockets to them.The IDF should reduce the area to a moonscape.
Hey! They put out a “maximum restraint” plea. What else do you want?
Stopped clock and all.
Next time, they will call it a "very serious breach" of the cease-fire, and urge Israel to exercise maximum restraint. The time after that, they can escalate to "extremely serious breach."
Strongly worded letter to follow.
a peep from the UN.....
akin to a fart in the wind!!!!
Begin war of the cities. Israel knows where the Hezbollah families and villages are. If Israeli settlements are targetted, those villages will be targetted. If the Lebanese Shiites want to take sides, their villages are also targetted. Isreali settlements have good bomb shelters, the Hezbollah have none for their civilians. How can you fight a war where your enemy attacks and kills your civilians and you respond by looking for only the attackers?
Next, in UNIFIL’s plan of action is a withering series of sarcastic letters to the editor followed up by hours of stern looks and relentless tongue clucking.
A group of peace activists met in Vermont, according to NPR last week. They held round table discussions on solving problems without violence. The usual War isn’t the Answer crowd. (Just sit down and talk. Find out what they want and give it to them. There! Problem solved!)
My skin crawls at the notion of do gooders signing Americans’ and/or Israeli’s right to life away. We can’t take any steps that might be deemed hostile or mean spirited. They’ll maximum restraint us out of existence. And when they bury us, we’ll all be denounced, blamed, hated, etc.. It’s letting lunatics run the asylum. I could say a lot more about Jihadists and their ilk and Liberals who aid and abet them, but that wouldn’t be good for my blood pressure.
High Volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. or WOT [War on Terror]
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Serious breach? I wonder what UNIFIL thought Hizbollah was rearming for?
“I don’t see UNIFIL doing anything positive.”
And what should they do ?
No! Really?
Never let it be said that UN troops are good for nothing. They do provide badly-needed comic relief.
They were supposed to stop Hizbullah from rearming. They were supposed to interdict the flow of weapons. They were supposed to dismantle any missile sites they found.
I don’t expect anything from the UN so I am not disappointed. The real question is what will Israel do when it is clear the UN will do nothing. Frankly, I have learned to expect nothing from Olmert so I will not be disappointed. He is too busy pumping up Abbas and giving the Al Asqa Martyr Brigades free shots at Jews. Woe to Israel. Until they get out of this surrender, retreat, appease mode they will suffer. From Oslo, to Rye, to withdrawing from Lebanon, to Camp David, to the Roadmap, to the Gush Katif withdrawal they have been made fools of consistently. They have nobody to blame but themselves.
Pretty soon gasbag Rosie will report that Isreal fired rockets on itself....followed by Harry Reid saying everyone except himself is incompetent and Isreal has already lost.
“A group of peace activists met in Vermont”
Wish they would meet in the war zone, then possibly they could experience war in the flesh instead of esoterically
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