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UN Force Faces Battle to Secure Peace

[Times-UK] Stephen Farrell - Hizballah is a guerrilla army that has gone quiet, but not gone away. Its choice of a discreet location north of the Litani River is no accident - far from the busy crossroads and strategic bridges where the Lebanese Army, supported by a newly strengthened peacekeeping UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), is taking up positions near to the Israeli border. Few believe that Hizballah will create problems in the short term because it cannot afford to challenge the Lebanese Army. But they point out that south Lebanon's future remains mortgaged to the wider regional agendas of Hizballah's backers, Iran and Syria. "The south is a vital area for Hizballah. The fact that it can't conduct any sort of military operations in this area is a very big handicap, as it is for Iran and Syria," said Michael Young in the Beirut Daily Star. But there is no doubt who is the real power in what unquestionably remains Hizballah's rural stronghold. Everywhere Hizballah's Jihad al-Bina (reconstruction wing) vehicles are visible among the international aid agencies helping to rebuild homes. Israel says it expects UNIFIL to carry out its "very specific" mandate under UN Security Council Resolution 1701 to create an area free of armed Hizballah personnel south of the Litani River. "We are not expecting them to protect Israel, or to defend Israel. They are there to implement a UN resolution that is designed to help the Lebanese government implement its sovereignty over all parts of Lebanese territory," said Mark Regev, an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman.
2006-10-09 01:00:00
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