A UN Observer post was hit by an IAF airstrike today, killing at least two UN peacekeepers. Israel has said they “deeply regret” the incident and vowed to investigate.

But UN Secretary General Kofi Annan already knows who to blame. Annan: IAF hit ‘apparently deliberate’.

I thought the head of the United Nations was supposed to be a diplomat, someone who understands the gravity of making hasty accusations with no evidence, and refrains from heated rhetoric that could make situations worse. (I can dream, can’t I?)

As reports of the attack emerged, Annan rushed out of a hotel in Rome following a dinner with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora.

“I am shocked and deeply distressed by the apparently deliberate targeting by Israeli Defence Forces of a UN Observer post in southern Lebanon,” Annan said in a statement later.

Annan said in his statement that the post had been there for a long time and was marked clearly, and was hit despite assurances from Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that UN positions would not be attacked.

“I call on the goverment of Israel to conduct a full investigation into this very disturbing incident and demand that any further attack on UN positions and personnel must stop,” Annan said in the statement.

Gillerman said “Israel is carrying out a thorough inquiry into this tragic incident and will inform the UN of its results as soon as possible.”