Israel releases video of U.N. base shelling
May 8, 1996
Web posted at: 2:00 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT)From Correspondent Rob Reynolds
JERUSALEM (CNN) -- The Israeli army released video Wednesday taken by an Israeli reconnaissance plane as it flew near a U.N. camp minutes after Israeli shells bombarded it. An officer said the film shows there was no intent to kill civilians. (798K QuickTime movie)
The video shows smoke and flames rising from the United Nations compound in the southern Lebanese village of Cana where about 102 refugees were killed.
"We didn't know there were civilians there. Had we known, we would have acted differently and I think this film proves that," said Lt. Col. Moshe Vogel.
An Israeli officer in charge of the operation said the unmanned drone was about 3 miles (5 kilometers) from the camp when the shelling started. The officer, who could not be identified for security reasons, said the plane flew over the base about 17 minutes later.
On Tuesday, the United Nations completed its investigation of the bombing and concluded it was not an accident. However, investigators stopped short of accusing Israel of acting intentionally.
Israel maintains it overshot its intended target of suspected Hezbollah guerrillas. Hezbollah missiles were fired over the Israel-Lebanon border from locations within 990 feet (300 meters) of the base earlier in the day.
Uri Dromi, an Israeli government spokesman, also insisted Wednesday the drone did not detect civilians in the area. If it had, Israel would not have fired at the base. (170K AIFF sound or 170K WAV sound)
Endangers peace process
But Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri said Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres' image had been tarnished, and that Peres could not promote peace while conducting war. (175K AIFF sound or 175K WAV sound)
"No doubt this will affect the peace process," Hariri said.
Because of the Middle East tensions, Hariri urged the United States to continue trying to broker a peace agreement in the region.
"We wish to see the United States playing the role of an honest broker," he said. "And we hope to see the United States continuing this peace process.
U.N. seeks answers
In its probe, United Nations investigators interviewed eyewitnesses who said a drone flew over the village during the shelling.
Also, an amateur video shot by a U.N. peacekeeper showed an Israeli drone flying near Cana around the time of the shelling, raising the suspicion that the attack was deliberate.
Drones are used to guide artillery fire and gain intelligence information on ground operations.
The U.N. investigation, however, relied largely on the pattern of Israeli artillery strikes around the base, not on the presence or absence of a drone.
Despite the international outcry over the incident, Israeli citizens and the country's media overwhelmingly support the Israeli army's explanation. One major newspaper called the U.N. report libelous.
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