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Future Security Arrangements Must Ensure that Lebanese Territory Is No Longer Used to Threaten Israel

(Washington Institute for Near East Policy) Brig.-Gen. (ret.) Assaf Orion - One year ago, Hizbullah started what has morphed into the third Lebanon war with Israel, exposing the international failure to implement security arrangements mandated after their second war in 2006. UN Security Council Resolution 1701 ably diagnosed the main reasons for the outbreak of the second Lebanon war: Hizbullah's possession of military weapons outside the government's control, and its deployment of forces in southern Lebanon along the border with Israel. 1701 wisely called on Beirut to extend its sovereignty via the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), supported by UNIFIL, and to establish a zone south of the Litani River that was free of any nongovernmental armed forces. Yet none of these requirements was fulfilled. Disarmament of militias was never seriously addressed. Instead, Lebanese officials essentially endorsed Hizbullah's right to bear arms. The Lebanese government and LAF actively colluded with Hizbullah in violating 1701, systematically obstructing UNIFIL access to Hizbullah military sites including cross-border tunnels, firing ranges, and missile launch sites. To end the current Lebanon war and prevent the outbreak of a fourth one, the international community must provide better security arrangements, especially an effective implementation mechanism that helps the Lebanese government establish a monopoly on arms within its borders. Specifically, future security arrangements must ensure that Lebanese territory is no longer used to threaten Israel - whether by Hizbullah, other Iranian proxies, Palestinian groups, or jihadists. The goal is to safeguard both Israel and Lebanon's security and sovereignty. The core of Lebanon's future security architecture should begin with its government assuming sovereign responsibility over its territory. Given Beirut's long-running weakness, however, additional layers are necessary. Realistically, the prospects for a significantly stronger Security Council resolution are slim. Hence, a non-UN path may be required. The U.S., Israel, and like-minded countries could create their own mechanism independent of the UN to compensate for the shortfalls in the current arrangement, on issues ranging from oversight to monitoring to coercive sanctions. Israel could provide intelligence to focus their efforts - and even military enforcement should all else fail. To set all this in motion, aid to Lebanon's economy and reconstruction, as well as arms, funds, and training support to the LAF, must be conditioned on meeting clear benchmarks. Any Lebanese actors closely colluding with Hizbullah should be designated as terrorist elements and dealt with accordingly. The writer, an International Fellow with the Washington Institute, is former head of the Israel Defense Forces Strategic Planning Division.
2024-11-05 00:00:00
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