Israel Matzav

UNIFIL concludes investigation: IDF did not cross the blue line

A UNIFIL investigation has concluded that the IDF did not cross the blue line before or during the August 3 incident in which Lt. Col. Dov Harari HY"D (may God avenge his blood) was murdered by a Lebanese Armed Forces sniper.

The IDF had been pruning a tree that each side claimed to be within its own territory, when the Lebanese army used live fire towards the IDF force operating in the area, killing a senior officer, and provoking an exchange of fire. UNIFIL announced that while “both the LAF and IDF cooperated fully with the UNIFIL team during the investigation”, their completed report “confirms the preliminary conclusions” in which UNIFIL had determined that the tree in question was located inside Israel’s border.

The preliminary conclusions had emphasized that the “trees being cut by the Israeli army were located south of the Blue Line on the Israeli side”, as stated by UNIFIL military spokesperson Lt. Col. Naresh Bhatt following the event. Moreover, as explained to Israeli Army Radio the day following the event, Hungarian diplomat and UNIFIL spokesman Milos Strungar noted that, “the IDF had coordinated the pruning work along the border with the Lebanese Army through UNIFIL. The IDF had informed UNIFIL that it would be pruning a tree on the northern side of the border fence, but south of the international border line.”

Force Commander Major-General Alberto Asarta Cuevas said in today’s statement that, “UNIFIL’s investigation report is a result of a professional and impartial work. It is based on the facts and all the evidence available to UNIFIL at this stage. We hope this report will assist the parties to prevent the reoccurrence of such a serious and tragic incident. I emphasized to both sides that the incident of August 3rd, 2010 must remain an isolated event.”

JPost adds that the UNIFIL report was submitted to the IDF and the LAF.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:37 PM