Preliminary UN probe says Israel and likely Hezbollah responsible for peacekeeper deaths
April 7 (Reuters) – Preliminary findings from an investigation into the deaths of three Indonesian peacekeepers in Lebanon last month showed that one was killed by an Israeli tank shell and two by an improvised explosive device most likely planted by Hezbollah, the UN said.
“These are preliminary findings based on initial physical evidence,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at a news conference on Tuesday, adding that a comprehensive investigation was ongoing, including engagement with relevant parties.
Dujarric called the events “unacceptable” and said they could constitute war crimes under international law.
He added that the United Nations has demanded that the cases be investigated and prosecuted by national authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Indonesian peacekeepers were killed in two separate incidents in southern Lebanon on March 29 and 30, following a bloody weekend in which Israeli attacks also killed Lebanese journalists and medics.
Indonesia has called on the UN to investigate thoroughly in light of preliminary findings and that all perpetrators must be brought to justice, a senior foreign ministry official Veronica Rompis told reporters on Wednesday.
Shelling in southern Lebanon on Tuesday forced a humanitarian aid convoy organized by the Vatican embassy for a besieged Christian town to turn back, a priest in the town told Reuters.
Also Tuesday, a spokesman for the United Nations Interim Force, the peacekeeping force in Lebanon, said the Israeli army blocked a UNIFIL logistics convoy and briefly detained one of the peacekeepers. Spokesperson Kandice Ardiel said the detention of the United Nations peacekeepers was a clear violation of international law and that the Israeli army had notified UNIFIL that it had launched an investigation into the matter.
(Reporting by David Brunnstrom in Washington and Stanley Widianto in Jakarta; Additional reporting by Menna Alaa El Din; Editing by Matthew Lewis and Edwina Gibbs)
