The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is supposed to be a "peacekeeping" force to prevent violations of UN Security Council Resolution 1701. Established in 1978 after Israel's invasion of Lebanon to stop attacks on its territory from Palestinian terrorists and Syrian-backed militias, UNIFIL's mandate has expanded in intervening years to include policing the "Blue Line" along the Lebanon-Israel border.
One of the primary responsibilities of UNIFIL was to disarm all militias in Lebanon, allowing the Lebanese government to take control. The Sunni, Christian, and most of the Shiite militias complied. Only Hezbollah resisted.
UNIFIL was supposed to keep Hezbollah far from northern Israel, near the banks of the Litani River. Instead, Hezbollah has moved its forces 18 miles closer to the border while UNIFIL stood by and did nothing.
UNIFIL was supposed to make sure that after the 2006 war with Israel, Hezbollah would not rearm. Instead, Iran began shipping thousands of ballistic missiles to Hezbollah right under the noses of UNIFIL as well as thousands of tons of small arms.
It's too kind to say that UNIFIL is a joke. They are a menace to Israel and a detriment to peace in the region.
Now Israel is beginning to fight back against UNIFIL's active participation in the war on Hezbollah's side. And nations supplying troops to UNIFIL are howling.
For 11 months Hezbollah fired more than 8,500 rockets and missiles at Israel, mostly from southern Lebanon, under Unifil’s nose. The area, militia-free by order of the U.N. Security Council, was soon crawling with the world’s best-armed terrorists. But the peacekeepers said little and did less.
Israeli troops entered Lebanon on Oct. 1 and requested several times that Unifil move north, out of harm’s way. But the peacekeepers won’t budge, though there’s no peace to keep. “There was a unanimous decision to stay because it’s important for the U.N. flag to still fly high in this region,” said a Unifil spokesman.
Unifil finally seems to have found its calling: Getting in Israel’s way. On Oct. 6 it complained that Israeli troops were near one of its positions, calling it “extremely dangerous” and “unacceptable.” On Oct. 11 it complained of explosions near an observation tower, injuring two peacekeepers.
"Hezbollah terrorists are using UNIFIL outposts as hiding places and as places of ambushes. The U.N.'s insistence on keeping the UNIFIL soldiers in the line of fire is incomprehensible," said Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon.
To be clear, the UNIFIL troops are in an uncomfortable position. They can't kick Hezbollah out of its outposts. They are outgunned and aren't supposed to be in combat. And they can't warn the Israelis of an ambush because that would be taking sides. Those are the ridiculous rules they operate under, so it's not surprising that they are now caught in a c crossfire between the warring parties.
Yet Unifil has become the toast of the diplomatic circuit for provoking condemnations of Israel. France, Spain and Italy express “outrage” at the “unjustifiable” injuring of two Unifil troops. The European Union’s foreign policy chief condemns “a grave violation of international law.” Reuters writes of Israel’s “targeting of the U.N. peacekeeping mission.”
Hezbollah couldn’t have scripted it better. And where was this diplomatic energy when Hezbollah dominated the area, and used it to force the depopulation of Israel’s north? It was missing in action, like Unifil. That’s why Unifil grandstands, and leaves its peacekeepers in harm’s way, while Israel fights and does their job for them.
UNIFIL may have its hands tied, but it's certainly not trying hard to move its feet. The "peacekeepers" could get out of the way of Israel with little trouble. But then that would prevent the nations that contribute troops to UNIFIL from making a public spectacle at the UN Security Council of their outrage at Israel's transgressions against UNIFIL troops.
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