UNIFIL (UNITED NATIONS INTERIM FORCE IN LEBANON) just had it’s annual mandate renewed on August 29th. The organization currently comprises some 10,500 personnel from over 40 countries. Participation ranges from over 1300 Indonesians to single individuals from several different countries. What they have in common is an assignment to try to keep the Lebanon-Israel border quiet. If you follow the international news you know that tey have been unable to do that in the past week.
All UN sponsored peace-keeping forces are actually dependent upon the will of the local population and local leaders to be effective. They provide an external authority that can be conveniently blamed if things go wrong, and a possible communications channel for restoring order without escalation. Lebanon is no different. Although the original mandate and subsequent annual renewals call for UNIFIL to aid the Lebanese central government in regaining control over the southern border areas, those areas remain solidly under the control of the Iranian backed Shiite Hizbullah militia. That situation seems highly unlikely to change in the near future.
Italian Major General Stefano Del Col is the current UNIFIL commander. His report of the recent exchanges of fire clearly lays the blame on Hizbullah. The report is not going to change anything. His soldiers cannot even use their own weapons for self-defense. This was clearly shown when a UNIFIL patrol last year tried to enter a Hizbullah controlled village. The soldiers were attacked physically. They were pulled from their vehicles, beaten, and pelted with rocks. Despite that, not a shot was fired. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cePfcgojdyE
UNIFIL will continue to operate for the coming year. They may still be useful as a safety valve to let the forces on both sides of the troubled border avoid an open war. Their record for doing that is blemished, but can be used to keep the other parties from crossing red lines that their political leaders have proclaimed. Don’t expect them to be able to anything more than that.
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Wetherhorn 