The Lebanese emergency office estimates that Israel carried out 113 air strikes in a single day, including 59 in Nabatieh, 32 in southern Lebanon and 19 on Mount Lebanon. The clashes are now on the second line. Although it is reported that on November 13, the 91st and 98th Brigades of the Israeli army withdrew from their positions on the outskirts of the village of Taibeh, east of Rab El-Thalathine and Markaba, as well as from the town of Meiss El-Jabal after 43 days of fighting and attempts to control the border strip in southern Lebanon. The Lebanese situation is extremely delicate and worsening day by day, this is not without problems for the UNIFIL units that carry out the role of peacekeeping and not peace-enforcement, therefore very limited in the use of weapons except for defense reasons.
Alma Research & Education Center founded by IDF Reserve Lieutenant Colonel Sarit Zehavi in a November 13 post states: “200 meters from a UNIFIL base, west of Kfar Kela, there is a building in a civilian environment where Hezbollah-ready equipment and weapons were found. Military equipment intended for training and education was also found in the building. UNIFIL vehicles passed in front of the building every day, several times a day. Didn’t you know? Ignore? Resolution 1701 failed from the beginning. The Lebanese army? They also could not and would not enforce it. Even the day after the war, they will not have the ability or will to enforce it. Israel must maintain its freedom of action and must rely only on itself.”
Hash words that are not always confirmed by facts, on the contrary: in a November 14 post by the Iraqi resistance that is currently on the front in Lebanon serving Hezbollah it reads: “UN forces in Lebanon found a small cache of Hezbollah weapons today and alerted both Israel and the Lebanese army. As they went to that cache again, Hezbollah shot in the air, to force them to leave. UN forces returned fire, because they were not IDF. The incident occurred in the village of Qallawiyah.”
The Iraqi militia complains among other things: “Imagine having to fight a war, against the Israeli army, but also having to hide from UN forces roaming in southern Lebanon.”
UNIFIL’s version of the same security incident on November 14 reads: “This morning, a UNIFIL patrol near Qallawiyah noticed a cache of ammunition near the roadway. After informing the Lebanese Armed Forces of the discovery, the peacekeepers continued on their planned route. Shortly thereafter, they got out of their vehicle to clear some debris from the roadway. When they re-entered their vehicles, two or three unknown individuals fired approximately 30 rounds in their direction. The peacekeepers returned fire from their vehicles and ran to safety. No one was injured and there was no damage to the vehicles. It is unclear whether the discovery of the cache of weapons and the attack are directly related. We have launched an investigation. Peacekeepers can never be targeted. Shooting them is a flagrant violation of international law and resolution 1701.”
AGC Communication has recently published a book on the 40 years of the UNIFIL mission, which outlines the difficulties of the mission in its long mandate.
Antonio Albanese e Graziella Giangiulio
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