The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) sees its 48-year mandate to monitor the situation on the Israel-Lebanon border coming to an end at the end of December, and Israel has stepped up efforts to denounce the group in recent days, claiming they found Hezbollah arms in civilian homes sort of near UNIFIL positions. The UNIFIL pointed out they were never meant to disarm anyone, nor were they empowered to search private homes.
US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz joined in on the denunciation today, declaring that the UNIFIL amounted to “human shields for terrorists” and had failed to prevent Hezbollah from existing, in the course of a tirade that was broadly about cheering the ongoing US war against Iran.
Israel has long had problems with the UNIFIL, and they largely begin and end with the peacekeepers documenting Israeli war crimes during their assorted invasions of southern Lebanon. They’ve been lobbying the US for years to prevent the mandate extension.
UNIFIL personnel patrol southern Lebanon | Image is Public Domain
Using the UNIFIL as human shields, assuming that were the case, plainly has not worked, as Israel has repeatedly attacked the peacekeepers directly, in violation of international law, and they don’t seem any more immune to Israeli attacks than any other civilians in Lebanon are. Not everyone is happy to see them leave, mind you.
The G7 agreed in recent meetings that the end of the peacekeepers’ mandate is going to create a “security void” in occupied southern Lebanon, and reports are that they broadly agreed to replace it with something to avoid that void, without agreeing on what that would be.
The EU has proposed replacing the UNIFIL outright, with some urging the UN to sign off on an EU peacekeeping force in the area. Israel is vocally opposed, of course, and the recent allegations that UNIFIL failed at things they were never mandated to do in the first place were likely an effort to convince the world that the peacekeepers don’t need replacing at all.
