Annan Mum on Hizbollah Attacks on U.N. Workers

Annan Mum on Hizballah's Wounding of UN Workers
By Jeff McKay
CNSNews.com Correspondent
August 07, 2006

(CNSNews.com) - A Hizballah-based mortar attack, which fell short of its target in Israel on Sunday and injured three Chinese members of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), has received scant media attention and no reaction from U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan.

Late last month, after four U.N. peacekeepers were killed in an Israeli air strike in southern Lebanon, Annan said he was "shocked and deeply distressed" at the "apparently deliberate targeting" of the outpost.

While information about Sunday's incident was not immediately available from the United Nations in New York, news accounts in China reported that "A Hizballah rocket hit the Chinese contingent headquarters at 11:55 am local time (0855 GMT), causing three peacekeepers [to be] lightly injured," according to a text report from China's Xinhua News Agency.

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There have been documented incidents where members of UNIFIL have come dangerously close to Israeli military fire from the air and on the ground. While those incidents have made headlines, especially the strike that hit the U.N. observer post near the Lebanon-Israel border killing four UNIFIL staffers, there is only rare mention about the proximity of Hizballah positions to the U.N. bases.