Конфликт на Ближнем Востоке

[Kornelij Glas]

Lebanon/Israel: Israel Must Allow Civilians Safe Passage

Warnings Do Not End Duty to Avoid Civilian Casualties

(Beirut, July 21, 2006) – Israel must allow civilians safe passage out of

Lebanon's embattled south, Human Rights Watch said today. Warnings by

the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to civilians that they must evacuate

southern Lebanon within 24 hours do not absolve Israel of the duty to

avoid attacks likely to cause indiscriminate or disproportionate loss of

civilian life.

Yesterday, the IDF advised all civilians south of the Litani River in

southern Lebanon to evacuate the region within 24 hours for their own

safety. Through leaflets dropped by aircraft, radio broadcasts and a

recorded message to mobile phones, residents were advised not to travel

on motorcycles or in vans or trucks lest they be "suspected of transporting

weapons and rockets," and become "a potential target."

"Israel should warn people of attacks, but those warnings can't be used to

justify harming civilians who remain," said Sarah Leah Whitson, director

of the Middle East and North Africa division at Human Rights Watch.

"Civilians who can't evacuate are still fully protected by international

law."

The Israeli military's extensive destruction over the last several days of

bridges, roads and vehicles, as well as shortages of food and fuel, have

made evacuation in 24 hours impossible for many. An estimated 300,000

people live south of the Litani River, which lies about 20 miles north of

the Lebanon-Israel border. Some 60,000 civilians have fled the area over

the past week, the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz reported.

International humanitarian law requires armed forces to give "effective

advance warning" of attacks when circumstances permit. However, even

after warnings have been given, these forces must still take all feasible

precautions to avoid loss of civilian life. This includes canceling an attack

when it becomes apparent that the target is civilian or that the civilian loss

would be disproportionate to the expected military gain.

Human Rights Watch expressed particular concern over continued air

strikes that have killed and injured civilians trying to flee. On Wednesday,

an air strike on a car reportedly killed four civilians: Ghassan Faqih, 31;

Laila Aqil Abu Zayd Nami, 71; As'ad Habas, 42; and an unidentified

fourth woman, who were driving from their village of Aitaroun to the city

of Tyre.

Israeli air strikes the same day killed more than 50 people across the

country, the highest daily death toll since the conflict began on July 12.

Air strikes have hit civilian trucks, including those carrying sugar, flour

and rice. Other attacks have destroyed public infrastructure, notably

bridges and roads needed by the civilian population to flee.

"The Israeli military is telling civilians to leave, but the casualties caused

by its attacks on the roads have made many people too frightened to

travel," Whitson said.

Israel's military campaign has already displaced 500,000 Lebanese

residents, or one-eighth of the country's population, the United Nations

said. The humanitarian situation is especially grim in Tyre, a few miles

south of the Litani River, where an estimated 60,000 residents as well as

displaced people from nearby villages are trapped with dwindling supplies

of medicine and food.

The IDF announced on July 19 that it is "operating with great caution in

order to prevent any harm to uninvolved civilians." At the same time, the

military said, "Southern Lebanon is a combat zone in which Hezbollah

terrorists operate against Israeli civilians from within the civilian Lebanese

population, using them as human shields."

Deploying military forces within populated areas is a violation of

international humanitarian law, but that does not release Israel from its

obligations to take all feasible precautions to minimize harm to civilians

and civilian property during military operations.

On July 19, Hezbollah fired more than 100 rockets into Israel, killing two

Israeli Arab boys in Nazareth. Human Rights Watch has condemned

Hezbollah for launching attacks that at best indiscriminately, and at worst

deliberately, target civilians.

More than 300 people have been killed in Lebanon since the fighting

began on July 12, most of them civilians. Twenty-nine Israelis have been

killed, including 15 civilians.

To see Human Rights Watch's ongoing coverage of the Israel-

Lebanon conflict, please visit:

http://hrw.org/campaigns/israel_lebanon/

[Kornelij Glas]

Lebanon: Hezbollah Rocket Attacks on Haifa Designed to Kill Civilians

Anti-personnel Ball Bearings Meant to Harm "Soft" Targets

(New York, July 18, 2006) – Hezbollah's attacks in Israel on Sunday and

Monday were at best indiscriminate attacks in civilian areas, at worst the

deliberate targeting of civilians. Either way, they were serious violations

of international humanitarian law and probable war crimes, Human Rights

Watch said today.

In addition, the warheads used suggest a desire to maximize harm to

civilians. Some of the rockets launched against Haifa over the past two

days contained hundreds of metal ball bearings that are of limited use

against military targets but cause great harm to civilians and civilian

property. The ball bearings lodge in the body and cause serious harm.

Hezbollah has reportedly fired more than 800 rockets into Israel from

southern Lebanon over the past five days, killing 12 civilians and

wounding many more. The vast majority of these rockets, as in past

conflicts, have been Katyushas, which are small, have a range limited to

the border area, and cannot be aimed with precision. Hezbollah has also

fired some rockets in the current fighting that have landed up to 40

kilometers inside Israel.

"Attacking civilian areas indiscriminately is a serious violation of

international humanitarian law and can constitute a war crime," said Sarah

Leah Whitson, director of the Middle East and North Africa division at

Human Rights Watch. "Hezbollah's use of warheads that have limited

military use and cause grievous suffering to the victims only makes the

crime worse."

On Monday, Human Rights Watch researchers inspected a three-story

apartment building in Haifa's Bat Galim neighborhood after it was struck

by a rocket around 3:00 p.m., causing extensive damage to the top two

floors and wounding six residents, one of them seriously. They collected

metal ball bearings that had pierced the walls of the apartment building

across the street and car windshields up to one block away.

An Israeli ordinance removal expert at the scene told Human Rights

Watch that the rocket used in the attack had a 240mm warhead. According

to media reports, Hezbollah announced that it had fired dozens of Raad 2

and Raad 3 anti-tank missiles into Haifa in response to "aggressions

against various Lebanese regions." An Israeli military official told the

press on Sunday that Hezbollah had fired at least three Syrian-made Fajr-3

missiles.

On Sunday, a Hezbollah rocket killed eight workers in Haifa's main

railway depot. Doctors who treated the wounded told Human Rights

Watch that the rockets contained metal ball bearings. The ball bearings

have increased the number and seriousness of injuries from rocket fire, the

doctors said.

"In my medical opinion, they [these rockets] are supposed to injure as

many people as possible," said Dr. Eran Tal-Or, director of the Surgical

Emergency Room at Haifa's Ramban Hospital. "If you wanted to bring

down a building, you would make a weapon with a heavier blast. And you

wouldn't bother with the balls inside that don't do much harm to buildings;

just to people."

Human Rights Watch interviewed three railway workers at the hospital

wounded by the ball bearings in Sunday's lethal blast.

"There were three loud booms and I started running out of the depot," said

Alek Vensbaum, 61, a worker at the Israel Train Authority. "One of the

guys, Nissim, who was later killed, yelled at everyone to run to the shelter.

The fourth boom got me when I was nearly at the door, and I was hit by

shrapnel ... I was hit by ball bearing-like pieces of metal in my neck, hand,

stomach and foot."

Sami Raz, 39, a railway electrician, said a ball bearing pierced his lung

and lodged near his heart. "I had terrible difficulty breathing after I was

hit," he said.

Twelve people were wounded in the attack, four of them seriously.

Under international humanitarian law, parties to an armed conflict may not

use weapons in civilian areas that are so inaccurate that they cannot be

directed at military targets without imposing a substantial risk of civilian

harm. Such attacks can constitute war crimes. Deliberately attacking

civilians is in all circumstances prohibited and a war crime.

Human Rights Watch has called on both Hezbollah and the Israeli military

to respect the absolute prohibition against targeting civilians or conducting

indiscriminate attacks in civilian areas.

Since fighting began on July 12, Israeli attacks have reportedly killed 209

people in Lebanon, most of them civilians. On Monday, Human Rights

Watch called on the Israeli government to provide details about a bombing

on July 15 that killed 16 civilians in a convoy near the village of

Marwahin.

For more of Human Rights Watch's work on the Middle East, please visit:

http://www.hrw.org/doc/?t=mideast

[karik]

Слушай, ты споришь сам с собой Я всего лишь привожу факты- совершенно их не комментируя. Для меня эта война - показательна, в смысле того, как один народ- ливанский - может стать заложником борьбы между двумя чуждыми ему силами.

[Kornelij Glas]

Israel: Investigate Attack on Civilians in Lebanon

IDF Must Take Precautions to Protect Civilians Fleeing Areas at Risk

(Beirut, July 17, 2006) – The Israel Defense Forces should provide details

about a bombing on Saturday that killed 16 people in a convoy of civilians

fleeing a Lebanese village near Israel's border, Human Rights Watch said

today. Under international humanitarian law, all parties to an armed

conflict must take all feasible precautions to protect civilians fleeing areas

at risk.

On Saturday, a number of families fled the southern Lebanese

village of Marwahin after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) warned them to

evacuate ahead of a threatened attack. On the road leading to the coast

through Chamaa, however, Israeli missiles struck a convoy of the

civilians. Maps of southern Lebanon show this road to be the only direct

route for escaping the dangerous border area.

"The IDF needs to investigate this attack on a civilian convoy and provide

more details about the circumstances," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle

East director at Human Rights Watch. "Having warned civilians to

evacuate their village, Israeli forces should have been aware that civilians

would be using this road and should have taken great care to avoid

harming them."

In an official statement on the incident, the Israeli military said that "Israel

Air Force targeted an area near the city of Tyre, in southern Lebanon, used

as launching grounds for missiles fired by Hezbollah terror organization at

Israel. The IDF regrets civilian casualties while targeting the missile

launching area."

A photographer for an international news agency who arrived at the scene

two hours after the attack told Human Rights Watch that he saw a white

van and a passenger car completely destroyed. He counted 16 dead bodies.

This account was confirmed to Human Rights Watch by UNIFIL (the

U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon), which had dispatched a

vehicle to the scene to recover the bodies and transport them to the city of

Tyre. Subsequent news reports placed the number of dead at 20, including

9 children.

The photojournalist indicated that he saw two craters where the Israeli

rockets had hit, one very close to the van and another approximately 100

meters away. He was not able to identify the type of rocket used in the

attack. UNIFIL did not provide any details about the rockets, as a

spokesman for the mission indicated that they do not have an observation

post in the vicinity. Journalists posted in southern Lebanon later reported

that the attack appeared to be the result of rockets fired from helicopters.

Eyewitnesses told Human Rights Watch that some of the bodies were

completely burned and others cut-up, which was corroborated by photos

of the scene. Most of the bodies were clustered around the van. The

photojournalist interviewed by Human Rights Watch said he saw the body

of one girl 20 meters away from the van and the bodies of one man and a

child 100 meters away, close to where the second crater fell. He indicated

that he did not see any armed person among the bodies.

At 9 a.m. on Saturday, approximately 100 residents from the village

sought refuge and humanitarian assistance at a U.N. peacekeepers position

situated 1.5 kilometers from the village. The residents informed the U.N.

peacekeepers that the IDF had ordered them to leave the village and that

they had no means to escape besides fleeing on foot. According to a

UNIFIL spokesperson, peacekeeping officers contacted their liaison

officers at the IDF and the Lebanese army and did not receive

confirmation of the evacuation order. Accordingly, the peacekeepers told

the villagers to return to their village with the belief that this might be

safer for them.

At 11 a.m., a group from the village of Marwahin left the town in the

convoy that was subsequently hit. UNIFIL told Human Rights Watch that

the individuals in the convoy were not part of the group of 100 villagers

who had sought refuge at UNIFIL's post because that group did not have

vehicles to leave the village.

"The U.N. peacekeepers should not turn back a vulnerable group of people

seeking shelter from imminent attack," Whitson added. "The United

Nations needs to make an official review of the decisions that led to this

event. This is critical to prevent a repeat of such an incident."

In light of the physical isolation of Lebanese villages in southern Lebanon

and the lack of means of transportation for many of these villagers,

Human Rights Watch urges UNIFIL to provide shelter to civilians fleeing

attack.

Based on information provided by relatives, news sources identified the

victims of the attack on the convoy as:

* `Ali Kamil Abdullah and his son `Ali, Sana' Muhammad

Abdullah, Subha Abdullah and the children: Hadi Muhammad

Abdullah, Rym Ibrahim Abdullah, Kamil Abdullah, Hassan Kamil

Abdullah, Muhammad Kamil Abdullah, Hussain Kamil Abdullah,

Zahra Faris Abdullah

* Muhammad Musa Ghannam, his wife Suha, and their children:

Qassim, Mustapha, Hussain, Zaynab, Da`a', Amina `Ali Ghannam.

Questions and Answers on Hostilities Between Israel and Hezbollah:

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/07/17/lebano13748.htm

For more of Human Rights Watch's work on the Middle East, please visit:

http://www.hrw.org/doc/?t=mideast

[karik]

Карик, фотография говорит сама за себя.

Надеюсь вы не будете отрицать, что на ней изображены дети, пишущие фломастерами на снарядах 40 километрового радиуса действия, и которые вполне могли попасть в кроватку мирно спящего их ливанского сверстника?

Надеюсь также не будете отрицать, что потери среди мирных жителей Ливана вполне могли произойти по причине попадания аналогичного снаряда?

Надеюсь, что теория о трех деревнях, которую вы развивали выше, лопнула?

[karik]

кстате только что у нас катюши упали, два ребёнка раненны легко, вчера в Цфате мать с двумя детьми попала под обстрел, дети легко ранены, мать в тяжёлом состоянии,

[Гость Funky]

Об этом надо было думать когда начинали, Карик.

[karik]

Об этом надо было думать когда начинали, Карик.

[Гость Funky]

Ну нету там никого , по данным армии, им я верю больше, потому,что они там находятся, нету, выехали все, уже три деревни захватили , нашли женщину раненную , она сейчас в больбнице в Израиле, и все

[Гость Funky]

Мне всё равно Фанки, пусть падает, пока все нормально заходят в бомбоубежище, я больше не хочу чтоб на границе Насралла сидел, и я поддерживаю армию на 100%, чтоб сделал все свои дела там, и чтоб больше эта группировка не была на границе

[karik]

Фанки, я же сказал, не бют они по населённым пунктам, там самолёты орудуют

если хотите думать что Израиль убивает этими устоновками детей, думайте, я не буду вас переубеждать

[karik]

Понимаю. Надеюсь покончив с Насраллой правительство Израиля найдет в себе силы отозвать вооруженные силы из Ливана, и выплатить компенсации ни в чем не повинным жертвам борьбы с Насраллой.

[Гость Funky]

Еще один. Где Дав? )))

[Гость Funky]

Фанки, я же сказал, не бют они по населённым пунктам, там самолёты орудуют

если хотите думать что Израиль убивает этими устоновками детей, думайте, я не буду вас переубеждать

[Гость Funky]

... хотя пусть у Ирана требуют!