In the Jerusalem Post about ten days ago was reported that the UN’s Israeli ambassador Danny Danon at a UN Security Council meeting said that “Israel is changing its mind about the need for a United Nations prosecutor force in Lebanon if Hezbollah continues to paralyze UNIFIL’s actions and strengthen its terrorist positions in the area”.
Taking into account the fact that the Israeli ambassador does not have the power to oppose the renewal of UNIFIL’s mandate, the thing that could ring the alarm bell is that the Trump administration may decide to object. Funding is approved on an annual basis by the General Assembly. For this reason it is appropriate to make a historical panorama and the role of UNIFIL in Lebanon.
After the expulsion of the PLO from Jordan in 1970, a sort of autonomous Palestinian State had been created in southern Lebanon. On March 11th, 1978, the Organization for the Liberation of Palestine (PLO) launched attack on the Tel Aviv-Haifa road which killed 37 people, including 13 children. The day after the Israeli Army (IDF) attacked the PLO bases and occupied the entire southern part of the country with the exception of the city of Tire. The operation was called “Litani” and aimed to create a safety belt up to the river which, descending from the Bekaa Valley, flows parallel to the border. Control of the river was a strategic objective of Israel, interested in acquiring control of huge water resources for its northern territories, afflicted by a chronic shortage of water.
On March 15th the Lebanese government filed a strong protest at the UNSC against the Israeli invasion and on March 19 the Council adopted the Resolutions 425 and 426 which required the unconditional withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon and the deployment of interim UN forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) on the Lebanese – Israeli border. The peacekeeping mission was established with 4,000 soldiers in its headquarters in Naqura, southern Lebanon with the task of ensuring the withdrawal of Israeli troops, restoring international peace and security and assisting the Government of Lebanon in ensuring the return of its effective authority in the area. UNIFIL’s mandate would have been revised following the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, following the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon in 2000 and on the occasion of the Israeli intervention in Lebanon in 2006.
In 1982, the casus belli arrived on June 3rd with the attempted murder of the Israeli ambassador in London, Shlomo Argov and in response to artillery attacks by PLO against populated areas in northern Galilee. Israel then started the Operation Peace in Galilee which is actually a replica of the Litani Operation.
Faced with heavy bombing in 1982, the PLO fighters after negotiations began abandoning their bases in southern Lebanon. In August 1982 UNIFIL peacekeepers landed in Lebanon to allow the evacuation of Palestinian militants from Beirut to neighboring Arab countries. The same month, the Phalangist Bashir Gemayel was elected President of the Republic, but within a month he was killed in the explosion of the Lebanese Forces Headquarters in East Beirut. The death of the allied leader marked the end of Peace Operation in Galilee, as Israel had lost its only reliable ally. There will be two more IDF operations in Lebanon: in 1993 with “Operation Responsibility” and in 1996 with “Operation Clusters of Wrath”. The Israeli withdrawal took place on May 25th, 2000. Israel notified the UN Secretary General of its full withdrawal from Lebanese territory. The UN demarcated the border between Israel and Lebanon according to what were the lines before March 14th, 1978, (the Blue Line).The line does not represent the border between Israel and Lebanon but an approximation of the 1923 border and the established Demarcation Line after the armistice of 1949.
Hezbollah claimed that the occupation could not be considered ended until the territory of the Sheba’a Farms in the South (territories from which the Israeli military never withdrew) had been freed, thus announcing the continuation of the resistance. For five months Hezbollah continued the new war against the IDF for the liberation of the Sheba’a Farms and the hills of Kfarchouba. Syria prevented the Lebanese government from sending troops to southern Lebanon. The liberation of Sheba’a Farms became Hezbollah’s “raison d’être” in order to continue its war and keep its weapons. The South never actually returned to the Lebanese State.
The “Summer Rain Operation” conducted in Lebanon by the Israelis in 2006 was the last military conflict in Lebanon following a large-scale military operation carried out by the IDF in retaliation for the capture of two of his soldiers on 12 July 2006 by Lebanese Hezbollah militants in the south of the Blue Line near the Israeli village of Zar’it. Other eight Israeli soldiers were killed while six others were injured. The conflict lasted 34 days and the UN Security Council extended the mission on an annual basis through Resolution 1701 of August 11th of the same year, which sanctioned the cessation of hostilities from August 14th, 2006 required the disarmament of Hezbollah and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon. The resolution provided for the strengthening of the UNIFIL military contingent up to a maximum of 15,000 men, to be deployed in Lebanon in subsequent stages and expanding the area of operations to the entire Lebanese territory south of the Litani river, which is why it is considered a UNIFIL II.
In this context, UNIFIL units acted at the request of the Lebanese government as a “buffer forces” among the contenders. UNIFIL mediates between Israel and Lebanon as the two countries are in a state of war and do not speak directly, to avoid incidents between Israelis and Lebanese and avoid escalation between the two sides. By this resolution, the Council also authorized UNIFIL “to take all necessary action in areas of deployment of its forces and as it deems within its capabilities, to ensure that its area of operations is not utilized for hostile activities of any kind; to resist attempts by forceful means to prevent it from discharging its duties under the mandate of the Security Council; and to protect United Nations personnel, facilities, installations and equipment, ensure the security and freedom of movement of United Nations personnel, humanitarian workers and, without prejudice to the responsibility of the Government of Lebanon, to protect civilians under imminent threat of physical violence ” .
Since the end of the 2006 conflict in southern Lebanon, representatives of the Israeli Defense Forces and Lebanese Armed Forces meet every six weeks in the so-called “Tripartite Forum”, chaired by the UNIFIL Commander.
By its nature, UNIFIL cannot take part in the political debate that takes place in the country where it is located. The limits are constituted by the fact that UNIFIL is a mere military operation, without particular attention on the Lebanese politic or economy. As part of its monitoring mission it records whatever hidden arsenals it detects and arms convoy from Syria to Lebanese territory. Its findings are communicated to the UN Security Council. Rarely it has the opportunity to seize a hidden Hezbollah arms depot -as long as it doesn’t involve battling Hezbollah. The southern area of the country is in fact with a strong Shiite majority, and therefore the link with Hezbollah is necessary. UNIFIL has always been subject of continuous campaigns and attacks by Hezbollah, but in spite of everything there is no denying the ability to mediate between Israel, Lebanon and Hezbollah.
Surely UNIFIL is not perfect, but without it the situation would be worse and the chances of a coming conflict would be greater.
