Possible War Crimes in The 2006 Lebanon War - Use of Human Shields

Use of Human Shields

Israeli officials accused Hezbollah of intentionally using the civilian population as human shields, and several reports have said that Hezbollah fired rockets from residential areas to draw Israeli fire on those areas, which maximised civilian casualties. The IDF released pictures and videos it said demonstrated Hezbollah's use of mosques and homes for rocket storage and launching. The IDF claimed that Hezbollah had set up roadblocks to prevent residents from leaving the warzone, while Amnesty International reported that "around 100,000 civilians were trapped in southern Lebanon, afraid to flee following Israeli threats to target all moving vehicles," and after statements by Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon that "all those now in south Lebanon are terrorists who are related in some way to Hezbollah."

In U.S documents leaked online, it was alleged that Hezbollah used ambulances to transfer weapons during the war.

Amnesty International investigated Israeli complaints of the use of human shields by Hezbollah, but found no evidence for the claims. They concluded that "it not apparent that civilians were present and used as 'human shields'." A statement issued by Human Rights Watch supported Amnesty's conclusion and "found no cases in which Hezbollah deliberately used civilians as shields to protect them from retaliatory IDF attack."

Human Rights Watch stated that "while it may be unlawful... to place forces, weapons and ammunition within or near densely populated areas, it is only shielding when there is a specific intent to use the civilians to deter an attack." After his mission to coordinate aid efforts in Lebanon, U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland stated that "Hizbullah must stop this cowardly blending... among women and children," and that "I heard they were proud because they lost very few fighters and that it was the civilians bearing the brunt of this. I don't think anyone should be proud of having many more children and women dead than armed men."

A 6 September 2007 Human Rights Watch report found that most of the civilian deaths in Lebanon resulted from "indiscriminate Israeli airstrikes," and found that Israeli aircraft targeted vehicles carrying fleeing civilians. The report stated that the investigation "refutes the argument made by Israeli officials that most of the Lebanese civilian casualties were due to Hezbollah routinely hiding among civilians." In a statement issued before the report's release, the human rights organization said there was no basis to the Israeli government's claim that civilian casualties resulted from Hezbollah guerrillas using civilians as shields. Kenneth Roth, Human Rights Watch executive director, said there were only "rare" cases of Hezbollah operating in civilian villages. "To the contrary, once the war started, most Hezbollah military officials and even many political officials left the villages," he said. "Most Hezbollah military activity was conducted from prepared positions outside Lebanese villages in the hills and valleys around."

Upon his visit to Lebanon, United Nations Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland accused Hezbollah of "cowardly blending ... among women and children. I heard they were proud because they lost very few fighters and that it was the civilians bearing the brunt of this. I don't think anyone should be proud of having many more children and women dead than armed men." Some journalists, human rights organizations, and Hezbollah itself dispute the charge, claiming that the group's contact with and proximity to Lebanese civilian centers is routinely minimized as a precaution against infiltration. A Human Rights Watch report released on 3 August said:

"Human Rights Watch found no cases in which Hezbollah deliberately used civilians as shields to protect them from retaliatory IDF attack. In none of the cases of civilian deaths documented in this report is there evidence to suggest that Hezbollah forces or weapons were in or near the area that the IDF targeted during or just prior to the attack."

In the same report, Human Rights Watch wrote:

"Hezbollah occasionally did store weapons in or near civilian homes and fighters placed rocket launchers within populated areas or near U.N. observers, which are serious violations of the laws of war because they violate the duty to take all feasible precautions to avoid civilian casualties. ... In addition, Human Rights Watch continues to investigate allegations that Hezbollah is shielding its military personnel and materiel by locating them in civilian homes or areas, and it is deeply concerned by Hezbollah’s placement of certain troops and materiel near civilians, which endangers them and violates the duty to take all feasible precautions to avoid civilian casualties. Human Rights Watch uses the occasion of this report to reiterate Hezbollah’s legal duty never to deliberately use civilians to shield military objects and never to needlessly endanger civilians by conducting military operations, maintaining troops, or storing weapons in their vicinity."

Human Rights Watch later printed an editorial reiterating these concerns in the context of strong criticism of the conduct of both sides in the conflict on 5 October.

An Amnesty International report released on 21 November 2006, found that there wasn't "conclusive evidence" of the use of "human shields":

"While the presence of Hizbullah’s fighters and short-range weapons within civilian areas is not contested, this in itself is not conclusive evidence of intent to use civilians as "human shields", any more than the presence of Israeli soldiers in a kibbutz is in itself evidence of the same war crime."

There have been other reports of Hezbollah using civilians as human shields. On 12 July, the very same day that Hezbollah sparked the war by kidnapping the two Israeli soldiers, the Israeli government publicized photographic and video evidence of Hezbollah's human shield tactics. The Sunday Herald Sun printed pictures that were smuggled out of Lebanon. One showing militants in a Lebanese town riding a truck equipped with an anti-aircraft gun, another showing a militant carrying an AK-47 rifle. The photographer, a Melbourne man who refused to give his name, stated that he was less than 400 meters from the block when it was obliterated. He said that "Hezbollah came in to launch their rockets, then within minutes the area was blasted by Israeli jets ... Until the Hezbollah fighters arrived, it had not been touched by the Israelis. Then it was totally devastated. It was carnage. Two innocent people died in that incident, but it was so lucky it was not more." The New Yorker reported how a Sidon mosque was used as a Hezbollah weapons cache before it was bombed by Israel.

On 5 December 2006, the IDF declassified photographic and video recorded evidence of Hezbollah's human shield tactics. Ynetnews reported:

"The IDF found that Hizbullah is preventing civilians from leaving villages in southern Lebanon. Roadblocks have been set up outside some of the villages to prevent residents from leaving, while in other villages Hizbullah is preventing UN representatives from entering, who are trying to help residents leave."

Israeli military spokesman, Capt. Jacob Dallal, further noted that much of the weaponry threatening Israel was deliberately being stored among civilians: "A lot of the rockets are stored in people’s homes in urban areas, fired from within villages and brought in from the Damascus-Beirut highway." The IDF also claims that Hezbollah militants are preventing or impeding the evacuation of civilians from southern Lebanon despite warnings by Israel to do so, thereby keeping civilians inside the military theatre and exposing them to danger.

During a raid in Baalbeck, Israeli forces found what IDF commanders described to the media as "a hospital building that served as a Hezbollah office complex." Israeli soldiers gathered weapons, documents, and other useful intelligence information from the hospital. According to Al Arabia's website, Hezbollah fighters wear uniforms in battle but "dress normally" when among civilians. Hence, fallen Hezbollah fighters in civilian areas are likely to be accounted as civilians casualties.

A recent editorial in the The Washington Times detailed preparations taken by Hezbollah in advance of the July war to hide weaponry in private civilian homes.

On 6 September 2007, the Associated Press reported on a new Human Rights Watch report found that most of the civilian deaths in Lebanon resulted from "indiscriminate Israeli airstrikes," and found that Israeli aircraft targeted vehicles carrying fleeing civilians. The report stated that Hezbollah "did at times fire rockets from, and store weapons in, populated areas and deploy its forces among the civilian population." In a statement issued before the report's release, the human rights organization said there was no basis to the Israeli government's claim that civilian casualties resulted from Hezbollah guerrillas using civilians as shields. Kenneth Roth, Human Rights Watch executive director, said there were only "rare" cases of Hezbollah operating in civilian villages. "To the contrary, once the war started, most Hezbollah military officials and even many political officials left the villages," he said, "Most Hezbollah military activity was conducted from prepared positions outside Lebanese villages in the hills and valleys around." Roth also stated that "Hezbollah guerrillas did not wear uniforms, making it hard to pick them out from civilians." Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mark Regev denied the accuracy of the Human Rights Watch report.