January Tuesday 11-2000:
PRO-ISRAELI MILITIAMAN KILLED IN SOUTH
LEBANON
BEIRUT, LEBANON, January 10 (FUTURE NEWS) -A member of Israel's
militia ally in south Lebanon was killed on Monday when his position was
attacked by Lebanese resistance fighters, militia sources said. They said the
militiaman was killed at a position facing the town of Nabatiyeh in the eastern
sector of the 15-km (nine mile) deep zone Israel occupies in the region. On
Sunday, an Israeli soldier was wounded when a bomb placed by the Hizbollah
resistance movement exploded on the side of a road he was using in the zone.
LEADING ISRAELI HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP ACCUSES
ISRAEL OF "WAR CRIMES" IN SOUTH LEBANON
BEIRUT, LEBANON, January 10 (FUTURE NEWS) -A leading Israeli human
rights group has accused Israeli occupation forces in southern Lebanon of
"war crimes". The unprecedented report also held Israel responsible
for the activities of its allied militia in the occupied zone. Prime Minister
Ehud Barak has pledged to pullout his forces from the south by July as part of
an agreement with Beirut and Damascus.
Report: Israeli occupation forces patrolling areas under occupation for some 21
years. Atrocities committed by these soldiers, according to the Israeli B'Tselem
human rights group, amount to "war crimes". A report published by the
group on Sunday detailed a string of abuses committed by the Israeli army in
south Lebanon. These included:
-"The arrest and imprisonment of suspects without trial" at the Khiam
detention centre in occupied south Lebanon or in jails in Israel
- The use of torture during interrogations at Khiam, "including electric
shocks"
- The banishment of hundreds of people from their homes in the occupied border
strip without any form of hearing
- The conscription of residents of south Lebanon, including children as young as
15, into Israel's proxy militia,
- The demolition of houses which Israel suspects belong to resistance fighters
- The use of weapons, including flechette shells, phosphorus and remote
controlled bombs, which took an indiscriminate toll on civilian bystanders.
The group said responsibility for these quote "crimes" lay squarely
with Israel regardless of whether they were actually committed by the Israeli
army or its militia ally. B'Tselem confirmed that around 150 Lebanese are
currently held at the Khiam detention center and another 16 in jails in Israel.
Detainees at Khiam, which is run by Israel's allied militia, were denied any
visits by the International Committee of the Red Cross or relatives until
October 1995. Access is still denied to journalists and human rights
organizations. The Israeli report drew a sharp response from the Israeli defence
ministry, which issued a 10-point statement that said the document was quote
"full of inaccuracies, half-truths and one-sided claims" that echoed
propaganda from Lebanese groups hostile to Israel. The report is only one of
many international findings which have accused Israel of war crimes and human
rights violations in the south.
In 1997 the UN Human Rights Commission ruled that Israeli actions in south
Lebanon constituted a "serious violation" of the 1949 Geneva
Convention on the protection of civilians in wartime. UN peacekeepers in the
south have said that the flechette shells used by Israel in Lebanon fell
"indirectly into the category of banned weapons" because they are
"not aimed at a specific target but scatter over a wide area, inflicting
... damage to civilian facilities."
Islamic Resistance operations
15:45 the group of the martyrs Mustafa Nazar and Ibrahim Daher in the
Islamic Resistance penetrated into the Thura post and planted a large bomb
inside the western bunker of the post. When guards entered the bunker the
Islamic Resistance detonated the bomb destroyed the bunker completely killing
all its occupiers and resulted in a fire.
"IsraeliĀ aggressions
06:15 the outskirts of the Beit Yahoun post was combed with
machine gun fire.
12:45 until 13:00 four 120mm shells landed in the Hadatha forest.