Gravlen
21-11-2006, 21:25
Amnesty has released a report - a follow up to their earlier work - on the earlier Israel-Hizbullah crizis. Not surprisingly it finds that both sides in the conflict committed war crimes.
Israeli forces and Hizbullah guerrillas committed war crimes by attacking civilians during their 34-day war in southern Lebanon earlier this year, Amnesty International said Tuesday.
In its third report on the conflict, the human rights group said Israeli forces were guilty of "indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks on a large scale."
The report also notes the war crimes committed by Hizbullah fighters.
The 70-page report recalled the findings of an earlier Amnesty report that Hizbullah fighters also committed serious breaches of international humanitarian law. Their war crimes, the report said, included indiscriminate and direct attacks on civilians.
Hizbullah fighters, the report said, "also appear not to have taken necessary precautions to protect civilians in Lebanon from the effects of Israeli attacks."
Evidence studied for the new report, "suggests that, in at least some cases, Hizbullah fighters stored Katyusha rockets within villages and fired from civilian areas, although the extent of such conduct is not clear," the report said.
The report itself is quite interesting, and can be found here (http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engmde020332006).
So to sum up, in 34 days:
1,191 civilians – hundreds of them children – had been killed and more than 4,400 injured in Israeli attacks.
Hizbullah rocket attacks led to the deaths of 43 civilians in Israel.
Around a million people were displaced in Lebanon, and an estimated 200,000 Lebanese are believed to be still displaced.
Around 300,000 residents of northern Israel were displaced for the duration of the hostilities.
Tens of thousands of homes in Lebanon were destroyed or damaged, and extensive damage was caused to orchards, agricultural estates, factories and infrastructure in Lebanon.
Hizbullah rocket attacks caused widespread damage to buildings in northern Israel.
Hizbullah fighters fired an estimated 4,000 rockets into northern Israel, including rockets armed with ball-bearings for maximum damage to people and rockets reportedly armed with cluster weapons.
Israeli forces used cluster bombs and white phosphorous munitions in civilian areas. Up to one million unexploded cluster bomblets now litter south Lebanon and continue to kill and injure civilians.
Israeli authorities have given the figure of 117 Israeli soldiers killed.
According to Hizbullah, 74 of its fighters were killed. Israel maintains it has the names of 500 Hizbullah fighters killed, although it has not released these names.
Four members of Lebanon’s internal security forces and some 40 Lebanese soldiers were killed in Israeli strikes, even though the Lebanese security and armed forces did not participate in the fighting.
And still the kidnapped Israeli soldiers are being held...
Israeli forces and Hizbullah guerrillas committed war crimes by attacking civilians during their 34-day war in southern Lebanon earlier this year, Amnesty International said Tuesday.
In its third report on the conflict, the human rights group said Israeli forces were guilty of "indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks on a large scale."
The report also notes the war crimes committed by Hizbullah fighters.
The 70-page report recalled the findings of an earlier Amnesty report that Hizbullah fighters also committed serious breaches of international humanitarian law. Their war crimes, the report said, included indiscriminate and direct attacks on civilians.
Hizbullah fighters, the report said, "also appear not to have taken necessary precautions to protect civilians in Lebanon from the effects of Israeli attacks."
Evidence studied for the new report, "suggests that, in at least some cases, Hizbullah fighters stored Katyusha rockets within villages and fired from civilian areas, although the extent of such conduct is not clear," the report said.
The report itself is quite interesting, and can be found here (http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engmde020332006).
So to sum up, in 34 days:
1,191 civilians – hundreds of them children – had been killed and more than 4,400 injured in Israeli attacks.
Hizbullah rocket attacks led to the deaths of 43 civilians in Israel.
Around a million people were displaced in Lebanon, and an estimated 200,000 Lebanese are believed to be still displaced.
Around 300,000 residents of northern Israel were displaced for the duration of the hostilities.
Tens of thousands of homes in Lebanon were destroyed or damaged, and extensive damage was caused to orchards, agricultural estates, factories and infrastructure in Lebanon.
Hizbullah rocket attacks caused widespread damage to buildings in northern Israel.
Hizbullah fighters fired an estimated 4,000 rockets into northern Israel, including rockets armed with ball-bearings for maximum damage to people and rockets reportedly armed with cluster weapons.
Israeli forces used cluster bombs and white phosphorous munitions in civilian areas. Up to one million unexploded cluster bomblets now litter south Lebanon and continue to kill and injure civilians.
Israeli authorities have given the figure of 117 Israeli soldiers killed.
According to Hizbullah, 74 of its fighters were killed. Israel maintains it has the names of 500 Hizbullah fighters killed, although it has not released these names.
Four members of Lebanon’s internal security forces and some 40 Lebanese soldiers were killed in Israeli strikes, even though the Lebanese security and armed forces did not participate in the fighting.
And still the kidnapped Israeli soldiers are being held...