UN under fire, pulls back Lebanon observers

United Nations, July 29: The United Nations said it withdrew eight peacekeepers from two outposts in southern Lebanon after another base, destroyed this week in a deadly Israeli airstrike, came under renewed attack.

''The situation is becoming extremely precarious,'' UN official Ahmad Fawzi told reporters yesterday. ''We lost four brave soldiers three days ago. We needed to get these men out of the line of fire and that is what we have done.'' The move brought to four the number of unoccupied bases in the area, out of a total of more than 40 UN outposts.

The base at Khiam in southeastern Lebanon has been unmanned since being blown up by an Israeli airstrike on Tuesday that killed unarmed UN observers from Austria, Canada, China and Finland.

The remains of three of the four dead have been recovered but a search for the fourth body had to be called off yesterday after Israeli shelling resumed at the site, Fawzi said.

''We had to stop because of the shelling,'' he said, adding he was unaware of any reason for the resumed firing.

UN observers had been pulled out of a base at Marun Al Ras last Sunday after an Italian peacekeeper was seriously wounded by Hizbollah small-arms fire.

Asked about the timing of the latest withdrawal, Fawzi said the UN mission had not pulled them out sooner ''because we were given assurances that the UN was not being targeted.'' UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who initially said Israel appeared to have deliberately targeted the outpost at Khiam, called yesterday for patience while the incident was being investigated.

''I've had the opportunity to speak to the prime minister of Israel on this issue, and he indicated to me that he couldn't believe it could be intentional,'' Annan told reporters.

''He offered his deep sorrow and seemed genuinely upset about it, which we accept,'' he said. ''I think we should all hold our horses until the results of the investigation are out.'' UN officials in Lebanon and New York had made a dozen calls to Israeli officials, warning them to desist as 21 strikes fell within 300 metres (yards) of the outpost during the six hours before it was flattened. In each call, the Israelis had promised to redirect their attacks, UN officials said.

There have been suggestions the Israeli shelling may have been aimed at Hizbollah operations near the UN outpost, but Fawzi reiterated that Hizbollah was not in the immediate vicinity of Khiam on the day it was demolished.

''Hizbollah sometimes uses UN positions as a shield. We have reported that faithfully and extensively to the Security Council when it happens,'' he said.

A UN statement summarising Thursday's operations in southern Lebanon, for example, stated Israeli shells had scored two direct hits on UN positions during the 24-hour period, while ''Hizbollah fired from the vicinity of five UN positions at Alma Ash Shab, At Tiri, Bayt Yahoun, Brashit and Tibnon.'' The four dead were part of the UN Truce Supervision Organisation, a unit of about 155 observers under the command of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, which has about 1,990 troops in the area.

''All UNIFIL positions in the area of operation remain permanently occupied and maintained by the troops,'' UNIFIL said in a statement released in Naqoura, Lebanon, and in New York.

Reuters