26 July 2006 – Mr. President,
The hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel yesterday took a tragic turn for the United Nations. Three unarmed military observers of the Observer Group Lebanon were killed in a direct hit on their position, Patrol Base "Khiyam". A fourth is feared dead. This has come on top of the civilian staff member and his wife who disappeared on 17 July, when the building in Tyre they were living in, collapsed after being hit by the Israel Defence Forces.
Yesterday's events unfolded as follows: beginning at approx 13:20 local time, Patrol Base Khiyam, a long-established and clearly–marked UN position in the eastern section of UNIFIL's area of operation, close to the town of Khiyam, came under recurrent incidents of close firing.
UNIFIL reported that, in total, 21 strikes occurred within 300 meters of the Patrol Base and 12 artillery rounds fell within 100 meters of the Base, four of which hit the Base directly. To our knowledge, unlike in the vicinity of some of our other Patrol Bases, Hezbollah firing was not taking place within the immediate vicinity of the Patrol Base.
Throughout the day, UNIFIL had protested, directly to the IDF each of these incidents of firing close to Patrol Base Khiyam. The Deputy Secretary-General and I made several calls to the Permanent Mission of Israel to the United Nations reiterating these protests and calling for an abatement of the shelling.
Two final firings close were reported before communications with the position were lost.
At 19:17 local time Lebanon, UNIFIL Headquarters in Naqoura lost communications with Patrol Base "Khiyam", where four unarmed military observers of the Observer Group Lebanon were deployed. UNIFIL Force Commander Major-General Alain Pellegrini immediately informed the Secretariat of that situation. Here in New York we repeated our calls for an abatement to the Permanent Mission of Israel.
Following the loss of communication with Patrol Base "Khiyam", UNIFIL coordinated with the IDF safe passage for two armoured personnel carriers taking troops from the Indian Battalion in a nearby position to the Patrol Base to vacate the position. These troops reached the position at 21:30 and found the shelter collapsed and major damage to the rest of the position. Until now, the rescue team has located three sets of remains. The fourth military observer is also feared dead. Firing continued during the rescue operation despite repeated requests to the IDF for an abatement.
UNIFIL has reported 145 incidents of "firing close" of which 16 were direct hits on its positions. Several positions have sustained more than one direct hit, causing various degrees of damage to buildings, equipment and vehicles.
Incidents of firing close to UNIFIL positions continue: this morning, UNIFIL reported that at 8 am New York time an artillery round impacted approximately 10 meters from its Headquarters compound in Naqoura. Both UNIFIL and this Headquarters have registered protests with the Israeli authorities.
We appreciate the acknowledgment of the Government of Israel of the tragic consequences of its military activity yesterday and as the Secretary-General has said in Rome, we accept the word of the Prime Minister. We also welcome the Prime Minister's announcement of an investigation, which we believe should be done jointly with the United Nations.<
It is important to note that UNIFIL has also come under direct attacks by small arms fire from Hezbollah forcing the mission to abort the escort of Lebanese civilians to safe areas and movement of troops on other humanitarian missions has been impeded. Furthermore, an unarmed military observer was seriously wounded in cross-fire on 23 July.
I reiterate the Secretary-General's call for an immediate cessation of hostilities, which he just repeated once more at the press conference in Rome, and the need to work on a political solution to the crisis.
In the current circumstances, we draw to the attention of the Security Council that we may need to prepare for a consolidation of our Observer Group Lebanon presence to minimise further risk to its personnel.
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