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The Fight to Get the UN Out of Lebanon
(Wall Street Journal) Editorial - After nearly 50 years of failure, the UN peacekeeping mission to Lebanon has run out of time - but not if France can help it. For decades, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has failed, billing the U.S. $150 million a year to sit by in peacetime while Hizbullah turned Southern Lebanon into an armed camp. In wartime, the UN peacekeepers acted as Hizbullah's human shields, refusing to budge when Israel took up the job they had failed to do. UNIFIL's operations were set to end on Dec. 31, after which a yearlong "drawing down" period will commence - as though it takes 12 months to cease doing nothing. The result is that international forces will stay in Lebanon until the end of 2027. But now the U.S. faces maneuvering by the French and others who seek to preserve the international role in Lebanon and their own postcolonial influence in Middle East affairs. Kaja Kallas, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, said on June 15 that she was "advancing work on a new EU mission in Lebanon." This mocks the intent of the push to end UNIFIL. Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter said in April, "We'd like to keep the French as far away as possible. They're not needed. They're not a positive influence, particularly not in Lebanon." The Trump Administration is right to say no to UN peacekeepers and no to an international force in Southern Lebanon, where they help rather than hinder Hizbullah.