Lebanon marks second anniversary of Israeli massacre at Qana

Lebanon on Saturday commemorated the second anniversary of the Qana massacre committed by the Israeli troops. Lebanese citizens and official delegations visited the town of Qana and laid wreathes on the 106 martyrs' tombs.

On April 11-18, 1996 the Israeli occupation forces launched a wide-scale aggression against Lebanon under the name "Grapes of Wrath." A series of crimes were committed against Lebanese civilians in the towns of Jmijmeh, Suhmour, al-Mansouri, al-Nabatieh and Qana.

The result was 106 dead, 300 wounded and some 400,000 evacuated from their houses and villages in southern Lebanon and the western Bekaa. April 18,1996 was the day when the Israeli brutality reached its peak; when the Israeli artillery positioned on the Lebanese borders shelled Fiji unit working within UNIFIL. Hundreds of Lebanese sought shelter to escape the Israeli bombardment. In this very attack 106 Lebanese people, mostly the elderly and children were killed. 110 persons were reported to be wounded; all came from the villages of Qana, Saddqin, al-Buttom mount and Aiteit. Some 15 soldiers from the Fijian unity were wounded.

Following the massacre, the Israeli magazine Gauld Maer published reports and interviews with members of the Israeli unit which committed the crime and reached the conclusion that those soldiers did not feel repent nor regret for killing of Lebanese innocent civilians. The Israeli unit's commander said, describing the Lebanese victims while speaking to his soldiers: "Those human garbage are launching missiles against you. So what do you do? You know there are still other millions of Arabs."

Another unit from the Israeli unit said "We do not feel guilty, rather we have to pound more shelling in order to kill more Arabs."