Hula, Lebanon

Infobox City Lebanon
official_name = Hula
native_name = حولا
governorate = Nabatieh Governorate
district = Marjeyoun District
elevation_m = 750

Hula (Hule, Arabic: حولا) is a small village in southern Lebanon on the southern side of the Litani river near the Lebanese-Israeli borders. It is located 750 meters above the sea-level.

During the 1948 Arab-Israeli war an officer from the IDF carried out the Hula massacre in the village.

On August 7, 2006, an Israeli airstrike on Houla was falsely reported to have left 40 people dead, when in fact only 1 died. Prime Minister of Lebanon, Fuad Siniora told a group of Arab foreign ministers whom had gathered in Beirut for a meeting that "An hour ago, there was a horrific massacre in the village of Houla in which more than 40 martyrs were victims of deliberate bombing". Siniora later admitted he was wrong, and revised the death toll from 40 to 1. [http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/08/07/mideast.main/index.html]

Houla is a village in southern Lebanon. It was used as base for Arab fighters during 1948. During the 2006 Lebanon War, Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora had reported 40 deaths after an Israeli airstrike in Houla. He had told Arab foreign ministers in Beirut that the attack "was a horrific massacre ... in which more than 40 martyrs were victims of deliberate bombing." Siniora claimed this incident as evidence that Israel did have "the intention to kill" civilians. However, it was later more accurately discovered that there had only been 1 death in the airstrike. In addition, it should be noted that under the Geneva Conventions, combatants are forbidden to use civilians as human shields, but if they do so, the presence of civilians does not render an area off-limits to military strikes. In the case of Houla, the Israel Defense Forces explained that they had been warning civilian residents of Houla to leave their homes by dropping leaflets for two weeks prior to striking Hezbollah forces in the area. The Lebanese Prime Minister admitted to the revised death toll, but did not apologize for his miscalculation or previous statement. "The massacre in Houla, it turned out that there was one person killed," Siniora said. "...Thank God they have been saved."

External links

* [http://community.webshots.com/album/2986038MsGoLvAsDV Some photos from Hula]
* [http://www.houla.org Houla Village Website] (Arabic)
* [http://ws.giyus.org/points/point?id=103 CNN report]