JINSA Report #617 UNIFIL is Undermining Lebanon

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November 7, 2006

JINSA Report #617

UNIFIL is Undermining Lebanon

The German Navy is said to be unwilling to patrol Lebanese waters at
night, but twice sent helicopters toward the Israeli border. The French
commander of UNIFIL threatened to put anti-aircraft batteries in UNIFIL
positions aimed at Israeli planes. Lebanese Army commander Gen. Michel
Suleiman met with the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon who offered to
supply the Lebanese army with anti-aircraft missiles. What is Israel
doing that makes them so nervous?

Documenting the Syrian and Iranian rearming of Hezbollah and the
inability or unwillingness of the Lebanese Army or UNIFIL to stop it.

Lebanon is at a crucial point in its political emancipation - the point
at which it must decide whether to advance from Syrian domination to
independence, or fall fully under Iranian control. Nasrallah has
demanded a unity government in Beirut that will give Hezbollah - and
thus Iran - a virtual veto over Lebanese national politics. Not all
Lebanese - not even all Lebanese Shiites - think this would be a good
thing. But in the absence of strong international support for disarming
Hezbollah, it is becoming less and less likely that the government of
Fouad Siniora will be able to withstand the pressure of Iran and Hezbollah.

UNIFIL's timidity - Western Europe's timidity, because France, Italy and
Germany are the only countries in UNIFIL that matter - is subverting the
indigenous Lebanese revolution that tossed out the Syrian occupiers and
made an independent, democratic Lebanon a possibility, though not yet a
reality. Following Hezbollah's attack on Israel and Israel's partial
destruction of Hezbollah assets in the South, UNIFIL's job was to extend
the revolution and the Lebanese government's authority to the rest of
the country by enforcing UN Resolution 1701 aimed at disarming Hezbollah.

UNIFIL's failure to act against Hezbollah resupply is a problem for
Lebanon and also for Israel.

Implementation of UN Resolution 1701 was to have been Israel's
reassurance that there would be no repetition of the unprovoked
Hezbollah attack from Lebanese soil. But if the resolution is not
implemented, Israel has a right - indeed an obligation to its citizens -
to accurately assess the threat from the north and, if it continues to
grow, to eliminate it. It is unreasonable to assume that Israel will
ignore the danger from Hezbollah simply because the French or the
Germans do - hence the overflights.

In a related vein, Israel has discovered the Palestinian Authority
smuggling Iranian weapons through Egyptian ports and overland through
Sinai to Gaza. No one should be surprised - although many will profess
to be - if Israel finds these weapons an intolerable threat and takes
action against them as well.

We will continue to monitor these situations so that JINSA Report
readers, at least, will be aware of the growing threat to Israel from
the Lebanon and Gaza, and the unwillingness of responsible parties -
Egypt and the European countries - to do their part in dealing with it.
At least we won't claim to be surprised.

To view this JINSA Report online click on the link below.

http://www.jinsa.org/JINSAReports/3585

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