UNIFIL cannot leave its bases

By Xavier Otazu |

United Nations (EFE).- The United Nations Interim Force for Lebanon (UNIFIL) will remain “in all their positions” because if they left them, they would be immediately occupied by the claimants, the head of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, the French organization Jean-Pierre Lacroix.

In an interview with EFE, Lacroix acknowledged that this is one of the most difficult moments in his eight years in office, but he stressed that he finds the support from all levels of the UN, from the Secretariat to UNIFIL, “impressive and encouraging. See “Support”. Security Council generals, passing through member states and troop contributors (none of whom have requested to withdraw their troops, he specified).

The increase in violence in southern Lebanon over the past two weeks has already resulted in twenty Israeli attacks on UNIFIL targets – injuring five of its international soldiers – and follows Israel’s repeated calls for UNIFIL to be deployed by the United Nations. has reportedly evacuated positions to prevent further damage. ,

25% of soldiers moved from the most exposed locations

That withdrawal was explicitly excluded by Lacroix: “It is important to continue (the present), because if we leave those positions, they will not be vacant, and that is very dangerous for the perception of the impartiality of the force. ,” he stressed, and specified that UNIFIL had only transferred “between 20 and 25%” of troops from the most vulnerable locations to other locations.

Regarding the helplessness of the Blue Helmets in the event of almost open war and direct attacks on their bases, the French diplomat specified that “UNIFIL’s mandate is not to impose any agreement, nor to engage in military confrontation with any other party”. , but also to support the implementation of UN Resolution 1701 and to accompany the parties in their obligations.

And although he added that “this does not mean that blue helmets cannot defend themselves if they are threatened,” he acknowledged that changing the rules of engagement would require a Security Council decision, which At this time and as long as it is difficult to achieve, first of all achieve a ceasefire, which is the first and main objective of the United Nations.

In any case, and to reduce the sense of danger that surrounds the UNIFIL blue helmets, Lacroix listed various measures to strengthen the bases taken by the force commander, Spanish General Aroldo Lázaro: “We have to Trust how it responds to incidents and maximize the protection of blue cases,” he said.

under-equipped lebanese army

Lacroix stressed at all times that UNIFIL’s mission is to achieve the implementation of Resolution 1701 of 2006, which provides for the withdrawal of foreign troops from southern Lebanon, the disarmament and withdrawal of irregular militias north of the Litani River and the consequent deployment of Is. The Lebanese army in that area, over the last nearly two decades, has been three things like a fantasy.

With regard to the Lebanese army, he acknowledged that UNIFIL has not seen any additional deployment of regular forces in the last weeks of hostilities, but reminded that it would need much external support to do so, because “it is such an army that Which requires more resources, more equipment, more training, more of everything…”, he said, and to do so he called for greater involvement from the international community.

UNIFIL seeks to protect the civilian population

Regarding Hezbollah’s withdrawal he said he could not specify it because because of the fighting “our blue helmets have had to spend a lot of time in bunkers” and they come out almost exclusively to carry out supply operations or to rescue civilians. Help to extract, which “makes it difficult to make very precise estimates.”

Regarding Hezbollah’s willingness to declare a ceasefire – expressed by its Deputy Secretary-General Naim Qassem on 8 October – Lacroix said he had read what he called a ‘declaration of intent’, but missed a truism: “Ceasefire “All sides need to agree” to achieve this, he said, referring to Israel.

And with regard to the civilian population of southern Lebanon, he reiterated that the best measure of protection and support is for a little more than 10,000 UNIFIL blue helmets to remain on the ground: “The idea is to protect the civilian population, because we are in a conflict situation. Which makes life very difficult for the population,” he concluded.