The role of UNIFIL seems to be misunderstood by many and so

[moniss]

I would refer people to the various UNIFIL documents going back several years now. Some people seem to think the role of UNIFIL is to go into pitched battle with Hezbollah or any number of other groups and seize weapons. That is not the case. The role for UNIFIL has been to provide a "buffer and monitoring" presence along the Blue Line and in other areas of Lebanon while trying to facilitate the Lebanese Government to stabilize and the Lebanese State Military Forces to try to gain strength and provide stability and security in the country. It must be remembered that this country was decimated over a period of many years by internal conflict and foreign military actions.

UNIFIL does a great deal of work in Lebanon in several areas such as assisting the Lebanese in setting up civilian infrastructure, providing training for land mine removal, establishing and supporting the land mine removal forces, assisting the Lebanese State Military in establishing maritime boundaries and training them in conducting interdiction activities on vessels, tracking reported Blue Line violations and investigating, tracking and investigating reports of attacks and the list goes on and on. UNIFIL over the years has conducted regular efforts to get both Israel and Lebanon to complete implementation of Resolution 1701 and subsequent relevant Resolutions.

They report regularly to the Secretary General and he issues reports every few months. I have included a link so that anybody who wishes can read and research at length. It should be noted that the reports typically describe hundreds of violations of Resolution 1701 by both Israel and Lebanon and by the non-State groups such as Hezbollah while the groups like Fatah and PFLP seem to mostly fight among themselves within Lebanon but do occasionally commit acts against UNIFIL and otherwise violate Resolution 1701.

Of particular note is the reference in reports to the IDF constantly violating the airspace of Lebanon in violation of Resolution 1701 and most of this appears to be surveillance/intelligence related using drones. Until recently of course. The other item of particular note in these reports is the constant reference to observed incidents of prohibited weapons being observed at firing ranges. Again the UNIFIL mandate is not about having them get into armed attacks to take weapons but rather for UNIFIL to report to and assist the Lebanese State Military in any such confiscations. Their rules of engagement are for limited use of force for self defense purposes regarding their ability to continue their operations in their limited overall role as mainly observation and buffer.

Israel and the IDF criticize UNIFIL for example about "not doing anything" about tunnels or Hezbollah weapons but at the same time they receive criticism from Lebanon about "not doing anything" about Israeli construction and occupation of areas north of the Blue Line near Ghajar by the Golan Heights area or airspace violations for example. But UNIFIL is unfairly blamed by both because UNIFIL does report these items to each side for correction as required and to the UN General Secretary. UNIFIL can only do what they are authorized to do and if the parties do not correct their violations of Resolution 1701 when they aare confronted with them then a mirror will show them the responsible party for correcting matters. UNIFIL unfortunately finds itself in a situation similar to when police try to intervene in a domestic violence incident between partners only to find that both partners turn on the police and begin to attack them. So here is the link to the UNIFIL reports where you can read about all of the horrible behavior by everybody involved and also a link to a brief article from DW (Deutsche Welle) News about the basics of UNIFIL.

https://unifil.unmissions.org/unifil-documents

https://www.dw.com/en/unifil-why-are-un-peacekeepers-in-lebanon/a-70471965