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The Qana Incident also known as the Qana Massacre, took place on April 18, 1996 in the headquarters of the Fijian battalion of UNIFIL, located in the small town of Qana, in southern Lebanon. The incident occurred in the conflict between Hezbollah and the Israel Defense Forces during Operation Grapes of Wrath.

Background

In April 1996, a cease-fire that had ended the July 1993 fighting between Hezbollah and Israel broke down due to violations, which involved several attacks on population centers by Hezbollah. During the five weeks of fighting between March 4 and April 10, seven Israeli soldiers, three Lebanese civilians and at least one Hezbollah fighter were killed. The tally of injured was sixteen Israeli soldiers, seven Lebanese civilians, and six Israeli civilians(1). In response to the cease fire violations, Maj.-Gen. Amiram Levine declared: "The residents in south Lebanon who are under the responsibility of Hezbollah will be hit harder, and the Hezbollah will be hit harder, and we will find the way to act correctly and quickly.(2)" Israel then through SLA radio stations, warned residents in southern Lebanon to evacuate their villages.

Operation Grapes of Wrath

Within forty-eight hours, Israel launched the military compaign known as Operation Grapes of Wrath. On April 11, Israel bombarded Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon and Beirut first, with artillary and later laser guided missiles. On April 13, Israeli warships initiated a blockade against Beirut, Sidon and Tyre, Lebanon's main ports of entry. Meanwhile, Hizballah continuously bombarded northern Israel with Katyusha rockets. Israel continued to bomb Hizbollah installations. According to U.N. spokeswoman, Sylvana Foa, on April 18, Hezbollah fired two Katyusha rockets and eight mortars at Israel from an area 300 yards away from the Fijian compound, 15 minutes before an Israeli unit responded by shelling the area with M-109A2 155 mm guns(3). As a result of the shelling, 102 civilians died, with more wounded. Most of the casualties were residents of nearby villages who had fled the conflict, while four were U.N. troops.

Response

Israel immediately expressed regret for the loss of innocent lives, saying that the Hizbollah position and not the UN compound was not the intended target of the shelling, but that it was hit "due to incorrect targeting based on erroneous data." Prime Minister Shimon Peres claimed that "We did not know that several hundred people were concentrated in that camp. It came to us as a bitter surprise." Following the attack, Lt.-Gen. Amnon Shahak, Israel's chief of staff, at a press conference in Tel Aviv on April 18 defended the shelling: "I don't see any mistake in judgment....We fought Hizballah there , and when they fire on us, we will fire at them to defend ourselves....I don't know any other rules of the game, either for the army or for civilians...(4)" Both the U.S. and Israel accused Hizballah of "shielding", the use of civilians as a cover for military activities, which is a breach of the laws of war. The U.S. State Department spokesperson, Nicolas Burns stated, "Hizballah using civilians as cover. That's a despicable thing to do, an evil thing.(6)" and Prime Minister Shimon Peres cited the use of human shielding to blame Hizballah. On April 18 he said, "They used them as a shield, they used the U.N. as a shield-the U.N. admitted it.(7)"

The UN investigated the incident in detail, concluding "while the possibility cannot be ruled out completely, the pattern of impacts in the Qana area makes it unlikely that the shelling of the United Nations compound was the result of technical and/or procedural errors".

A video recording made by a UNIFIL soldier showed an Israeli unmanned observation drone in the vicinity at the time of the shelling.

Commemoration

April 18th is held every year as an anniversary to commemorate the victims of the bombardment. At other times, Hezbollah has used this event to arouse ill will toward Israel and the United States, prominently marching after the relatives of the victims, or making inflammatory speeches at the event. Israel sees this as a cruel expoitation of the victims by Hezbollah to use their deaths, which Israel believes Hezbollah caused, (by using the civilians as human shields), for political propaganda.

References

• 1."Lebanon: Main Events in Recent Hizbollah-Israel Violence," Reuters, April 11, 1996
• 2. Shlomi Afriat, "Israel vows retaliation for Lebanon rocket attacks." Reuters, April 9, *1996.
• 3.United Nations: Hizbollah Fired From Near U.N. Post Hit by Israel," Reuters, April 18, 1996.
• 4."Israeli Army Chief Says UN Forewarned of Shelling," Reuters, April 18, 1996.
• 5.Serge Schmemann, "Voicing Regret, Israeli Leader Offers a Cease-Fire," The New York Times, *April 19, 1996.
• 6. Steven Erlanger, "Christopher Sees Syria Chief in Bid on Lebanon Truce," The New York Times, April 21, 1996, quoting State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns.
• 7.ICRC Condemns Shelling of Civilians in Southern Lebanon," Communication to the press no. 96/14, April 19, 1996.

External links

• Robert Fisk's dispatch
• Images from the bombing
• UN report on the incident
• Israel's response to the UN report
• Name of the victims

• Arab-Israeli conflict
• Lebanese history
• United Nations
• 1996