Tuesday, September 19, 2006

War Crimes

It is now just over a month since the cessation of official hostilities between Israel and Hizbullah and now Amnesty International has finally come out and commented on a bit of balance.

They initially condemned Israel with some selective investigative journalism but now have found out that Hizbullah launched almost 4000 rockets into northern Israel.

Photo courtesy and ©Amnesty International
Amnesty International's briefing includes evidence of:

* Hizbullah's firing of some 900 inherently inaccurate Katyusha rockets into urban areas in northern Israel in clear violation of the principle of distinction between civilian and military targets under international law;
* Hizbullah's use of modified Katyusha rockets packed with metal ball bearings, designed to inflict maximum death and injury; one such rocket killing eight railway workers;
* Statements from Hasan Nasrallah and other senior Hizbullah leaders that the group intended to target civilians as a form of reprisal, violating the prohibition on direct attacks on civilians as well as the prohibition on reprisals against the civilian population;
* The flight of civilians from northern Israel and the existence of shelters preventing a higher death toll than the 43 civilian fatalities recorded.
Directing attacks at civilians or civilian objects is a violation of international humanitarian law, and doing so with intent constitutes a war crime.
"The scale of Hizbullah's attacks on Israeli cities, towns and villages, the indiscriminate nature of the weapons used, and statements from the leadership confirming their intent to target civilians, make it all too clear that Hizbullah violated the laws of war," said Amnesty International's Secretary General Irene Khan, "In the conflict between Hizbullah and Israel, the suffering of civilians on both sides has been repeatedly ignored with those responsible escaping all accountability. Justice is urgently needed if respect for the rules of war is ever to be taken seriously -- and that means accountability for the perpetrators of war crimes and reparations for the victims,"

1 Comments:

At 6:05 am, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I FOUND THE VIDEO TO THIS PICTURE!
LOOK CLOSE. ITS THIS HOUSE!

THE VIDEO SHOWS THE DIRECT HIT!

NICE!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQmSD4IVvUY

 

Post a Comment

<< Home