Israel military says its tank fire hit UN Lebanon base, regrets incident

PARIS: Israel's military on Wednesday acknowledged that its tank fire hit a UN position in southern Lebanon on March 6, wounding Ghanaian peacekeepers. Initial findings by an internal UN inquiry had suggested Israel was behind the attack, a Western military source had told Reuters on Tuesday.

The UN peacekeeping mission known as UNIFIL is stationed in southern Lebanon to monitor hostilities along the demarcation line with Israel.

In a statement to Reuters, Israel's military acknowledged its troops were behind the incident, but said they had responded to anti-tank missile fire from Hezbollah, which had moderately wounded two of its soldiers. "...The IDF regrets the incident and has conveyed its apologies through the appropriate channels to Ghana and the UN," the statement said.

(This is a Reuters story)