Facebook Twitter Instagram
    Saturday, April 1
    Trending
    • This Day in History on April 1st
    • This Day in History on March 31st
    • Animated Map of the 2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine (through March 30th, 2023)
    • This Day in History on March 30th
    • Heroic Police Officers Neutralize Mentally Ill Woman Attacking Children
    • This Day in History on March 29th
    • Who Has Declared Their Candidacy for US President in 2024 So Far?
    • This Day in History on March 28th
    History and Headlines
    • Arts & Entertainment
      • Cinema & TV
      • Games
      • Literature
      • Music
      • Sports
      • Video Games
    • Bizarre Bulletin
      • Misconceptions
      • The Bizarre
      • The Paranormal
      • The Unexplained
    • Lifestyle
      • Animals/Pets
      • Fashion
      • Food
      • Health/Medicine
      • Home Improvement
      • Horoscopes
      • Travel
    • Science & Tech
      • Inventions
      • Nature
      • Vehicles
    • Society
      • Business and Economics
      • Crime
      • Military
      • Politics
      • Religion
      • Society
    • About
      • Welcome to Our Site!
      • This Day in History
      • Table of Contents: A History of the World
      • Online History Textbooks
      • A Guide to Some of Our Favorite Scholars and Educators
      • Advance Screenings and Movie Reviews Archive
      • Schedule of Video Adaptations of Our Articles
    • Friends
      • Armchair History TV
      • Fact Fiend
      • RealClearHistory
      • Simply Charly
      • TopTenz
      • ​Unique Interpretations
    History and Headlines
    You are at:Home»April»April 18»Qana Massacre, Another Middle East Tragedy
    April 18

    Qana Massacre, Another Middle East Tragedy

    Major DanBy Major DanApril 18, 2020No Comments5 Mins Read
    Email Facebook LinkedIn Pinterest Reddit Telegram Tumblr Twitter VKontakte WhatsApp
    Qana

    A Brief History

    On April 18, 1996, the village of Qana in Southern Lebanon was shelled by artillery fire from the Israeli Defense Force, the official Israeli military organization.  Unfortunately, Qana was the location of a United Nations compound manned by members of the Fijian United Nations Interim Force and had been providing haven to about 800 Lebanese civilian refugees.  The attack left 4 of the Fijian soldiers wounded and killed 106 of the Lebanese civilians, injuring another 116 civilians.  The bombardment was part of an Israeli offensive operation from April 11-April 27, 1996, known as Operation Grapes of Wrath, an operation to stop the Islamic terrorist faction known as Hezbollah, an Iranian backed group, from sending rockets into Israeli territory from havens in Lebanon.

    Digging Deeper

    Obviously, a tragedy of this magnitude generated heated accusations against the IDF, alleging the artillery strike was deliberately targeting the UN site.  Just as obviously, Israel vehemently denied any deliberate atrocity and claimed mistaken coordinates or some other user error on the part of the forward observer or artillery crews.  When Israel was accused of having a drone (remotely piloted unmanned aerial vehicle equipped with real time television cameras) over the target immediately prior to the attack, the Israelis denied the presence of the drone.  Video evidence force the IDF to admit the drone had been present, but the IDF claimed the drone was on an unrelated mission and did not see the Qana emplacement was of a civilian/refugee nature under the aegis of the UN.

    The Israelis had had enough of the terrorist rockets being fired into their territory, targeting civilian Israelis, and mounted the Operation Grapes of Wrath to ferret out the Hezbollah guerillas/terrorists (depending on your point of view) responsible for the attacks.  The Israeli offensive drove civilians into the UN camp for protection from the fighting.  In just the first couple days of the operation the Hezbollah fighters fired 120 rockets into Israel, often from civilian areas or behind civilian areas in order to hide from the IDF and use civilians and refugees as human shields.  As despicable as the Hezbollah tactics were, the IDF was not exactly extra-careful to avoid civilian casualties when going after the Hezbollah rocketeers.  In fact, at least a few Hezbollah fighters are known to have gone into the camp at Qana, where apparently their families were camped.

    The situation in the Middle East, specifically between Israel and their Arab neighbors has been volatile since the creation of Israel in 1948, a creation largely in response to the slaughter that was the “Holocaust” of World War II.  Although Jewish people have had a longer history of occupying the land that is Israel, the Arab/Muslim people of the area have been in command of the land since the rise of Islam in the 7th Century when Muslims first displaced the Byzantine Empire from Palestine/Israel.  Christians tried to retake the “Holy Land” (what is now mostly modern Israel) from the Muslims during the Crusades, and the British Empire managed to obtain hegemony over Palestine/Israel after World War I with the defeat of the Turks.  The land has seen fighting over much of its history, and that fighting has been simmering ever since 1948, and threatens to become much worse as each side becomes more enraged with the other.

    A United Nations investigation of the incident at Qana concluded that the artillery fire was deliberately targeted exactly where the shells struck, with no evidence of “short” or “long” mis-targeting or misfiring.  Of course, Israel disputed those conclusions.  Israel also expressed sorrow at the loss of innocent lives and some displeasure with the UN for not condemning Hezbollah from firing rockets from civilian areas.  An investigation by Amnesty International also concluded the Israeli target was indeed the UN camp at Qana, a willful act to hit what the Israelis believed to be Hezbollah positions in spite of the presence of civilians and UN troops.  The United Nations voted to condemn the Israeli attack, with only Israel and the United States voting against the resolution.

    Some Israeli soldiers interviewed on the condition of anonymity supposedly admitted targeting the camp, claiming that they had a moral right to attack their attackers even if those attackers hid among civilians.  Question for students (and subscribers): Do soldiers have this “right?”  Please let us know in the comments section below this article.  We suspect different answers depending on which side of the conflict the observer is on.

    If you liked this article and would like to receive notification of new articles, please feel welcome to subscribe to History and Headlines by liking us on Facebook and becoming one of our patrons!

    Your readership is much appreciated!

    Historical Evidence

    For more information, please see…

    Bard, Mitchell. Myths and Facts: A Guide to the Arab-Israeli Conflict. AICE , 2016.

    Smith, Charles. Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict.  Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2016.

    The featured image in this article, a diagram from Major-General van Kappen’s report to the Secretary-General of UN Boutrous Boutros-Ghali dated 7 May 1996 (S/1996/337), is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

    Share. Email Facebook LinkedIn Pinterest Reddit Telegram Twitter Tumblr
    Previous ArticleWhere Do Humans Go When Earth is Untenable?
    Next Article The End of the Battleship Era Comes with a Naval Oops Moment!
    Major Dan

    Major Dan is a retired veteran of the United States Marine Corps. He served during the Cold War and has traveled to many countries around the world. Prior to his military service, he graduated from Cleveland State University, having majored in sociology. Following his military service, he worked as a police officer eventually earning the rank of captain prior to his retirement.

    Related Posts

    Animated Map of the 2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine (through March 30th, 2023)

    March 30, 2023

    Who Has Declared Their Candidacy for US President in 2024 So Far?

    March 29, 2023

    History Short: Has Any US President Ever Been Arrested?

    March 24, 2023
    Follow Us!
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
    • Patreon
    Sign Up For Our Newsletter!
    Most Recent

    This Day in History on April 1st

    April 1, 2023

    This Day in History on March 31st

    March 31, 2023

    Animated Map of the 2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine (through March 30th, 2023)

    March 30, 2023

    This Day in History on March 30th

    March 30, 2023

    Heroic Police Officers Neutralize Mentally Ill Woman Attacking Children

    March 30, 2023
    This Day in History Video

    Advertisements




    Amazon Affiliate Disclosure Statement

    As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases via links in the “Historical Evidence” sections of articles.

    About HistoryAndHeadlines.com

    Thanks for visiting History and Headlines!  This site exists primarily for educational purposes and is intended as a resource for Dr. Zar’s students.  Articles are mostly written by either Dr. Zar or his dad (Major Dan).  To any guest readers, please keep that in mind when commenting on articles.   Thank you!

    We try to present our students with historical topics that are both diverse and a bit out of the ordinary.  Our motto is “We try until we succeed!”

    Contact us at admin@historyandheadlines.com

    Guidelines and Policies for Images used on This Site, as well as for Guest and Sponsored Articles, and Other Terms of Use

    Privacy Statement

    © 2023 History and Headlines

    All-Time Most Commented

    July 28, 1866: 18 Year Old Girl Wins Commission to Sculpt Statue of Lincoln (A Truly Great American Woman)

    July 28, 2014

    December 24, 1865: Birth of the Ku Klux Klan

    December 24, 2015

    December 25, 1868: President Johnson Pardons all Confederate Veterans

    December 25, 2015

    February 5, 1909: First Plastic Invented was called Bakelite!

    February 5, 2014

    November 23, 1876: “Boss” Tweed Turned Over to Authorities

    November 23, 2013
    Recommended Book
    © 2023 ThemeSphere. Designed by ThemeSphere.

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

    We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

    You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in settings.

    History and Headlines
    Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

    Strictly Necessary Cookies

    Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

    If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.