“Israel” accused of `indiscriminate` airstrikes on Lebanese civilians

Source: AP, 06-09-2007
JERUSALEM (AL-QUDS) -- In its harshest condemnation of "Israel" since last summer`s war, Human Rights Watch charged that most of the Lebanese civilian casualties came from "indiscriminate `Israeli` airstrikes," according to a report to be released today.
In a statement issued before the report`s release, the human rights organization said there was no basis to the "Israeli" claim that civilian casualties resulted from Hizbullah guerrillas using civilians as shields. "Israel" has said it attacked civilian areas because Hizbullah set up rocket launchers in villages and towns.
More than 1,000 Lebanese were killed in the 34-day conflict last summer, which began after Hizbullah staged a cross-border raid, killing three "Israeli" soldiers and capturing two others. They are still being held.
"Israeli" warplanes targeted Lebanese infrastructure, including bridges and Beirut Airport, and heavily damaged a neighborhood in Beirut known as a Hizbullah stronghold, as well as attacking Hizbullah centers in villages near the border. Hizbullah fired nearly 4,000 rockets at northern "Israel", killing 119 "Israelis" according to released official figures.
Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth said in the statement, "`Israel` wrongfully acted as if all civilians had heeded its warnings to evacuate southern Lebanon when it knew they had not, disregarding its continuing legal duty to distinguish between military targets and civilians."
Meanwhile, "Israeli" Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev rejected the report`s findings.
"Hizbullah adopted a deliberate strategy of shielding itself behind the civilian population and turning the civilians in Lebanon into a human shield," he claimed, charging that Hizbullah, a popular Lebanese occupation-resistance movement, "broke the first fundamental rule of war in that they deliberately exploited the civilian population of Lebanon as a human shield."