The United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon, or UNIFIL, was created by the United Nations, with the adoption of Security Council Resolution 425 and 426 on 19 March, 1978, to confirm Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon (following its incursion a few days earlier in Operation Litani), restore the international peace and security, and help the Lebanese Government restore its effective authority in the area. The first UNIFIL troops arrived in the area on 23 March, 1978; these troops were reassigned from other UN peacekeeping operations in the area (namely UNEF and UNDOF).

When Israel invaded Lebanon again in 1982 (1982 Lebanon War), U.N. positions were overrun. During the occupation, UNIFIL's function was mainly the provision of food and aid to locals in Southern Lebanon. Beginning in 1985, Israel scaled back its permanent positions in Lebanon, although this process was punctuated by brief invasions and bombings, as in the 1993 Operation Accountability and the 1996 Operation Grapes of Wrath. In 1999, it undertook a full withdrawal, which concluded in 2000 and enabled UNIFIL to resume its military tasks. The Syrian and Lebanese governments claim that the Shebaa Farms area, which Israel and others in the international community view as part of the occupied Golan Heights, is Lebanese territory. They contend that this dispute gives continued legal sanction to armed anti-Israeli groups in Lebanon (though the UN has officially certified that Israel has fully withdrawn from all areas it occupied after 1973). At the request of the country of Lebanon in January 2006, the UN extended UNIFIL's mandate to expire July 31, 2006.

Mandate

UNIFIL is tasked with achieving the following objectives:

Confirm the withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon;

Restore international peace and security;

Assist the Government of Lebanon in ensuring the return of its effective authority in the area.

Additionally, the 2006 mandate extension required assisting the Lebanese government in establishing a "monopoly" on military action, adding impetus to disarm Hizbullah guerillas.

Current operation

UNIFIL is currently primarily deployed along the U.N. drawn Blue Line dividing Israel (and the Israeli Golan Heights) and southern Lebanon. Its activities have centred around monitoring military activity between Hezbollah and the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) with the aim of reducing tensions and allaying continuing low-level armed conflict. UNIFIL has also played an important role in clearing landmines, assisting displaced persons, and providing humanitarian assistance in this underdeveloped region.

Debate over UNIFIL presence

UNIFIL forces have fallen out of favour in Israel and claims that little regard has been given to their safety by the IDF [386] following accusations that it was complicit in a fatal abduction of IDF soldiers in October 2000. Suspicions persist although the UN has published a report denying complicity[387]. Prior to the hostilities of July 2006, Israel had been lobbying for UNIFIL to either take a more active role vis-a-vis Hezbollah (for example, preventing Hezbollah from setting up military posts adjacent to UNIFIL's in the hope this will deter Israel from attacking them), or to step out of the region (thereby voiding the Lebanese government's excuse for not deploying its army along the border) [388].

With the eruption of open warfare, UNIFIL's utility has been called into question over accusations that it has failed to fulfill the terms of its mandate. There is currently some debate over the need for a replacement UN Peacekeeping force. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has also asked the UN to enforce UN Resolution 1559, which calls for the disarmament of Hizbullah, as one of its prime considerations in accepting a cease-fire.

Troop Status

UNIFIL currently (30 April 2006) employs 1991 soldiers, some 50 UNTSO observers and 390 civilians [389]. The force includes troops from China, France, Ghana, India, Ireland, Italy and Poland. Its annual budget is about US$100 million. UNIFIL is led by French Major General Alain Pellegrini, formerly French military attache in Beirut and head of the mideast division of the French military intelligence.

To date UNIFIL has suffered 257 fatalities (of which 8 civilians) during the course of its deployment.

Quotes

"UNIFIL, I'm afraid, is a joke. They’ve been there for 26 years and since then, there have been so many skirmishes [along the border]." - former Israeli ambassador Itamar Rabinovich 7/20/2006 [390]

See also

Operation Litani

Lebanese Civil War

South Lebanon conflict

Sources

GlobalSecurity.org Lebanon

External links

UNIFIL - UN official mandate