Saving Lebanon's 'revolution'
In today's Washington Post, David Ignatius does a fair job of summing up US strategy in Lebanon:Administration officials rightly insist that returning to the status quo in Lebanon would be a mistake. After last year's triumph of forcing a withdrawal of Syrian troops, Siniora's government was struggling (and largely failing) to establish a viable nation. This nation-building effort was hamstrung by Hezbollah's insistence that it maintain what amounted to a state within a state.If Ignatius' description is correct - and it certainly seems to be - then one of the things Secretary of State Rice needs to do when she visits the region starting Sunday is to get Siniora to get his Defense Minister with the program. The last thing the Lebanese army needs right now is to get into a war with the IDF. The Lebanese army should stand aside and allow Israel to crush Hezbullah.
The administration's strategy is to let Israel do the dirty work of breaking Hezbollah and then move in a foreign "stabilization force" to bolster the Lebanese army. Once Israel has pushed the guerrillas north, this international force would help the Lebanese army deploy to the southern border with Israel and the eastern border with Syria. The plan is for a beefed-up successor to the existing United Nations force in southern Lebanon, known as UNIFIL.
The administration's informal deadline for getting a U.N. mandate for this new international force is July 31, when UNIFIL's current mandate expires. The French now command that force, and the United States hopes they can remain in that role, with new troops coming from such robust military powers as Italy, Turkey and Canada.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:47 AM
3 Comments:
Hezbullah must be removed from Lebanon or at least rendered ineffective and unable to regroup.
No Homer, the Lebanese in the south, while some do support and assits Hezbullah, there are also those who are forced to co-operate in order to survive.
The deaths to these latter civilians are what is known by the horrible term 'collateral damage'. But Hezbullah are responsible - they alone are the killers of these people whether by their own weapons or via Israels defensive actions.
Why would the UN be interested in using forces from islamic Turkey?
I don't beieve they are interested in protecting Israel.
@Homer
Hats off to ur frivolous, insensitive comment for lebanese in south lebanon. Just that Israel has support(appeasement) from West, doesn't gives Israel carte blanche to respond with an out of proportion action by blocking and killing- murdering rather- innocent people, even if some of these lebanese are supporting hizbullah on the grounds of emotional attachements, thanx to the history.
Post a Comment
<< Home