Later this month, the Security Council will hold its annual vote about whether to extend the mandate of the United Nations International Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) for another twelve months. With a yearly budget of over $500 million—of which the U.S. provides almost a third—UNIFIL’s job is to prevent another war between Israel and Hizballah. This is a mission it cannot accomplish, writes Tony Badran:
In theory, UNIFIL’s mission is to prevent Hizballah from launching attacks against Israel from southern Lebanon, and to ensure the area is free of weapons. In practice, UNIFIL is an expensive charade. Hizballah holds absolute sway in southern Lebanon. And now, just in time for the Security Council’s annual vote, the Lebanese terrorist organization has shown once again that it determines what is permissible for UNIFIL, including whether and how the peacekeepers can monitor the Lebanese-Israeli border, known as the Blue Line.
Controversy over UNIFIL’s surveillance began last year, after the UN secretary general Antonio Guterres issued a report with recommendations to increase the force’s efficiency ahead of last year’s UNIFIL mandate renewal. . . . In defense of its plan, UNIFIL command asserted that it had coordinated with the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) in deciding to install cameras. As part of its mandate, UNIFIL coordinates closely with the LAF to reassert Beirut’s sovereignty over the border region. The problem is, despite having received billions of dollars in U.S. military assistance, the LAF simply runs interference for Hizballah.
Not surprisingly, UNIFIL soon announced that it had been advised by the LAF not to install the cameras. Something similar, according Badran, occurred when UNIFIL considered using surveillance drones to monitor Hizballah’s activities in the area. Badran concludes:
Two organizations—UNIFIL and the LAF—that successive U.S. administrations have underwritten are at best ineffective and at worst complicit. From the vantage point of the U.S. national interest, the only meaningful policy option is to put an end to the whole farce.
Read more on FDD: https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2021/08/17/un-peacekeepers-let-hezbollah-call-the-shots/