The United Nations has decided to remove eight unarmed observers from four posts along the Israeli-Lebanese border and relocate them with lightly armed UN peacekeepers in their headquarters in Naqura.
The decision comes three days after an Israeli airstrike destroyed one of the posts, killing four observers from Austria, Canada, China and Finland.
The observer mission, known as UNTSO, has kept about 50 observers in posts along the borders with Israel, Damascus and the Golan Heights. Another of the four posts, near the village of Maroun al-Ras, was put out of commission when Hizbullah guerrilla gunfire wounded an observer on July 23rd.
Because roads and infrastructure have been so badly damaged by the Israeli shelling it now makes little sense to keep the unarmed observers in South Lebanon.
According to Sean Ó Fatharta of the Defence Forces, there are no Irish among those relocated today.
Of the 10 Irish in Lebanon five are with UNTSO in Naqura and five are with UNIFIL in Tyre, which has been heavily targeted by Israeli artillery and airstrikes.
UNTSO - the UN Truce Supervision Organization - was established in 1948 to observe the ceasefire following the war that followed Israel's creation.
UNIFIL - the UN Interim Force in Lebanon - was created to confirm Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon in 1978. It has over 30 observation posts and bases along the border, monitoring and reporting on violence in the region. The two organisations generally work together now.
The recent bloodshed broke out on July 12th after Hizbullah guerrillas crossed the Lebanese border into Israel and captured two Israeli soldiers. Israel retaliated with its massive assault on Lebanon, now in its 17th day.
Rescue workers have recovered the bodies of three of the observers killed in Khiam, but the fourth body remains buried in the rubble of the destroyed building. Heavy equipment cannot reach the site due to continued Israeli bombardment, UNIFIL said in a statement.
In the drafting of the Security Council statement, the United States - Israel's closest ally - insisted on dropping any condemnation or allusion to the possibility that Israel deliberately targeted the UN post.
Israel has expressed regret for the bombing and stressed that it would never target UN personnel.
Meanwhile today, Israeli warplanes and artillery attacks hit Hizbullah positions and crushed houses and roads in southern Lebanon, killing up to 12 people. Hizbullah said it fired a new kind of rocket, which landed deeper inside Israel than hundreds of other strikes in 17 days of fighting.