THE Israeli bombardment is not achieving any of Israel's stated aims and is beginning to cause major humanitarian problems for the local population, a senior Irish officer said here yesterday. Lieut Michael Lucey, Officer Commanding the Irish Battalion in Unifil, was speaking on the 14th day of continuous Israeli bombardment of south Lebanon.
Speaking about the effect of the bombardment, as contrasted with Israel's stated aims, Lieut Col Lucey said there was no sign of loss of local support for the Hizbullah resistance fighters despite the massive suffering being inflicted.
"The point the Israelis make is that they are interfering with Hizbullah. They are trying to alienate the local population from Hizbullah by causing all this damage and driving the people out, the plan being that that will turn the local people against Hizbullah and force the Lebanese government into taking action against them.
"It is true to say that at the moment they are not achieving what they set out to do. The armed elements are still firing Katyushas into northern Israel and the Lebanese government refuses to take action against Hizbullah."
The local population continues to look upon Hizbullah as "freedom fighters who are fighting Israel to free part of their country".
He added: "A large portion of the population has left the area and we are left with a section of the population who are too poor or do not have the wherewithal to leave or who just want to stay. These people have come to us and we are taking them into our posts. We are feeding them and providing them with water and other facilities.
The UN soldiers were providing what humanitarian relief they could despite the fact that convoys were being stopped from entering the area by Israeli bombing of roads.
Lieut Col Lucey said the morale of the Irish troops was high. "It is edifying that they just accept the situation. Their spirits are still very good."
The Irish battalion is in the centre of the area of south Lebanon which is receiving up to 3,000 Israeli artillery shells a day as well as non stop aerial attack.
Records kept by Irish UN observers show that the number of shooting reports in its 140 sq km area rose from 139 in January to 668 so far this month. However, most of the shooting this month involve multiple firings of up to 50 rounds in quick succession.