July 27, 2026
[IsraelAlma] Why Is There No Place for the Continued Activity of a Foreign Force in Southern Lebanon?
| No more UNIFIL is a wonderful idea. All it has ever done is get in the way of Israel punishing Hezbollah. |
On 24 July, Lebanese President Aoun met with European Union Ambassador Sandra De Waele together with ambassadors and representatives of European and Western countries. During the meeting, Aoun stated that the continuation of UNIFIL’s activity is the preferred option. He added that if the mandate cannot be extended, an alternative force should be established to assist the Lebanese Army in clearing mines and ammunition, clearing the area, and accompanying the implementation of the agreement.
Nearly fifty years after the establishment of UNIFIL, and approximately twenty years after the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, the time has come to recognize reality: the model of a peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon has failed. Extending UNIFIL’s mandate (as Lebanon seeks) or granting a mandate to a foreign force (as proposed in various European initiatives, foremost among them a French initiative) operating in a framework similar to UNIFIL—even under a different name, with a different composition, or with minor adjustments—is not expected to improve security stability. On the contrary, it is liable to preserve the very failures that enabled Hezbollah to transform southern Lebanon into the most heavily fortified military area constructed within the framework of the Shiite Axis outside Iran.
The problem lies not only in UNIFIL’s performance or in the quality of the forces that have participated in it over the years. The failure is structural. UNIFIL was designed as a peacekeeping force, whereas in southern Lebanon there has never been peace to keep. In the existing reality, in which one of the principal actors is an armed military terrorist organization enjoying Iranian support, possessing independent military power, and operating from within a civilian population contrary to the interests of the Lebanese state, a force such as UNIFIL, which is based on consent, neutrality, and the avoidance of friction, is incapable of achieving its objectives.
Resolution 1701 itself also reflects this gap. The resolution tasks UNIFIL with assisting the Lebanese Army in creating an area free of illegal weapons between the Blue Line and the Litani River, yet it does not grant the force genuine enforcement authorities (such as, first and foremost, acting against Hezbollah under clear rules of engagement, the authority to conduct searches, enter private property, and confiscate weapons).
More at the link
| Courtesy of Clyde Thaviling6482 |
[YouTube] For over 75 years, the United Nations has deployed Blue Helmets into the world’s most dangerous places — Congo, Somalia, Rwanda, Bosnia, Sudan, and more — in the name of peace. But time and again, UN peacekeeping forces have found themselves outgunned, under-resourced, and paralyzed by bureaucracy, unable to stop the very violence they were meant to prevent.
| 45 minutes. |
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UNIFIL: 2026-07-01 Visiting south Lebanon, Bibi says IDF won’t withdraw ‘as long as Hezbollah remains here’
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