You may have noticed in my last 2 posts that there is something missing in the UN approach to maintaining peace. The only use of force allowed is for self-defense. There is no penalty for an aggressor using violence other than the failure of the attempt. This idea was also present in the League of Nations and was criticized in Professor Quincy Wright’s book “A Study of War”. That book had the misfortune to be published in 1942, just after the US was brought into WW II by the Pearl Harbor attack. After Dunkirk, Winston Churchill noted that wars are not won by evacuations. This approach seems to assure that a successful defense does not have any extra cost to the attacker beyond the fact that he failed.
The second Lebanon War is an illustration. UNSC Resolution 1701 put an end to the fighting (started by Hezbollah kidnapping IDF soldiers) and Israel withdrew from Lebanese territory. Hezbollah refused to move forces north of the Litani (and still does). The original Hezbollah complaint was that Israel had not left Lebanese territory. Remember, Hezbollah is NOT the Lebanese government. UNIFIL took Israeli and Lebanese representatives and resurveyed the border. Hezbollah still refused, claiming an area called the Sheba farms was Lebanese. The UN checked and found the territory involved was occupied by Israel, but originally Syrian, Not Lebanese. At present, Hezbollah is still in southern Lebanon (contrary to the UN resolution) and, in addition, has been firing rockets into Israel (an act of war) since October 8th, 2023. UNIFIL is not allowed to use force to compel Hezbollah to comply and the UN has no way to make Hezbollah obey other than talk.
The European Union sent a naval task force to protect shipping from the Houthis in Yemen. That force has limits similar to those imposed on UN troops. The 4 ships in the EU naval task force (Operation Aspides) have fired lots of defensive missiles at Houthi drones and rockets, but cannot strike Houthi targets on land. The American Naval force with a similar mission is allowed to attack Houthi missile launchers, but not to engage in punitive attacks. Israel is under no such limitations and bombed the Houthi port of Hodeidah in response to Houthi missile attacks on Israel. I haven’t seen any Houthi missiles aimed at Israel since then. My conclusion is that the UN limitations are not an effective way of handling aggressors..
Wetherhorn 