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Soldier Said Hezbollah Hid Behind UN Camp

A Canadian UN peacekeeper recently killed in an Israeli air strike Tuesday complained just days before that tragic incident that his position was being used as cover by Hezbollah terrorists attacking Israel. In Toronto, as part of an interview on Canadian Broadcasting Corportation Radio, retired Candian Forces Major General Lewis MacKenzie said he had received emails from the soldier over the past week.

Maj. Gen. MacKenzie, who happened to know the deceased - Major Paeta Hess-von Kruedner - personally, said Hezbollah terrorists using UN personnel as human shields is "a favorite trick by people who don`t have representation in the UN," knowing they will suffer no direct consequences for the violation. The Israeli government responded angrily to United Nations accusations that the Israeli military intentionally targeted the UN position.

The general explained that the killed soldier used veiled military speech in his messages to MacKenzie and others, "telling us that Hezbollah fighters were all over his position and the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) were targeting them," not the UN position itself, as charged immediately after the event by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. The UN position that was targeted was a United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon post at El Khiam.