Yet another ceremony in Naqoura to celebrate the failure of the UNIFIL mission that since 2006, under Resolution 1701, was supposed to assist the LAF- the Lebanese government – in disarming all armed groups in southern Lebanon.
In a UNIFIL’s Arabic-language press release, the culmination of this failure can be read in the last paragraph where the Force Commander, Major General Lázaro Sáenz, emphasizes “the success of UNIFIL’s partnership with the Lebanese Armed Forces and the Mission’s firm commitment to achieving a permanent cease-fire between Lebanon and Israel in accordance with a UN Security Council resolution” and emphasizes its work aimed at “continuously urging the parties to continue demarcating the Blue Line and resolving the disputed points, which are symbolic and practical steps toward long-term stability.”
Shortly, the classic discourse aimed at hiding a clear and indisputable failure.
According to Resolution 1701, UNIFIL should :
- A) Assist LAF in progressing toward stabilization of the areas:
- B) reach full compliance with the Blue Line (including Israel);
- C) Prevent the resumption of hostilities by maintaining between the Blue Line and the Litani River a buffer area free of armed personnel, assets and armaments other than those of the Lebanese government and UNIFIL;
- D) Implement the relevant provisions of the TAIF agreements, and Resolution 1559 (2004) and 1680 (2006), which require the disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon;
Furthermore, nothing to guarantee that there are no weapons or authorities in the area that do not come from the Lebanese state; no foreign forces in Lebanon without the consent of the government;
- E) Ensure that there are trade or supply of weapons and related materials to Lebanon except those authorized by the government;
- F) handing over to the UN all maps/maps containing mine deployment in Lebanon (Israel);
- G) undertake all necessary actions in the deployment areas of its forces and, to the extent within its capabilities, ensure that its area of operations is not used for hostile actions of any kind. To react with force to attempts to prevent the performance of its duty under the mandate of the Security Council, to protect UN personnel, infrastructure, facilities and equipment, to ensure the safety and freedom of movement of UN personnel and humanitarian organizations, and without prejudice to the responsibility of the Government of Lebanon, to protect civilians from imminent threats of physical violence.
At no point in the resolution is the force commander assigned the role of mediator between Lebanon and Israel and / or working with the LAF outside of the primary calculation of assisting them in the disarmament of Hezbollah.
Beyond any consideration of the overall appearance of the country in bankruptcy and corruption chaos, the failure of UNIFIL is so obvious and incontestable that the UN General Secretary, António Guterres himself had to admit it in 2019.
Hezbollah is the entity that has dramatically laid bare the inability – better said the impossibility – for Lebanon to escape the Shiite/Iranian noose Hassan Nasrallah that Hassan clutched around the neck of UNIFIL and Lebanese government.
As Ilaria Stivala wrote in a 2019 report published by ” Centro Ricerca Sicurezza e Terrorismo,” the “Hezbollah ‘model’ has become synonymous with an active and successful organization at the political, military and social levels, capable of garnering unprecedented popular support and, at the same time, maintaining a deterrence function against possible Israeli aggression.”
Hezbollah, as stated in a U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee report, is a worldwide terrorist organization that has politically and economically established itself in the Islamic world as a point of reference for the defense of the values of Islam.
And all this is precisely due to the failure of the UNIFIL mission which serves as an umbrella to the trafficking of terrorists who “occupy” stably,militarily, politically, economically and socially, all of southern Lebanon, i.e., that air which under the responsibility of the United Nations was supposed to be liberated from armed men and returned to the full sovereignty of the Lebanese government.
Since its establishment 40 years ago, Hezbollah has been holding Lebanon hostage and since 2006 has “allowed” UNIFIL , under certain conditions, to play the role of “peacekeeping army” in southern Lebanon to the LAF to do presence operation – under strict observance of the rules imposed by Hassan Nasrallah’s men.
In the meantime, Tehran’s rib has become one of the most powerful armies in the Middle East area that has realized in the area an efficient welfare implemented by UNIFIL with all those activities typical of international cooperation and which are certainly not the tasks of the blue helmets. But the peace of mind and security of the blue helmets has a price and UNIFIL pays it dearly by playing its part.
That is why, beyond rhetoric, the Arabic-language speech issued by UNIFIL is as hypocritical as it is dangerous because it bends to the logic of quiet living in the shadow of a terrorist group.
Got last but not least, in 2020 Lebanese President Michel Aoun said that Hezbollah will only offer its weapons as a gift to the Lebanese army when the conflict between Lebanon and Israel is solved, a statement by the presidency reported.
At this point, assuming that the Lebanese government does not intend to disarm the terrorists, what role do the blue helmets play if the primary role of Resolution 1701 is rejected by the Lebanese government itself?
Arthur Schopenhauer stated that “honor is the external conscience and conscience the internal honor” .
The Unifil’s Force Commander celebrated the 77th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations, one cannot even remotely see what conscience and what honour the United Nations and nations that contribute to the UNIFIL blue helmets, including Italy, have in keeping more than ten thousand men and women under the control and blackmail of a terrorist group.
