Israel Matzav

Hezbullah supporters attack UNIFIL troops

In an earlier post, I raised the possibility that UNIFIL may be preparing to withdraw from southern Lebanon. This evening, an event occurred in southern Lebanon that may encourage them to leave (Hat Tip: Shy Guy).

A southern Lebanon village backed by Hizbullah overpowered United Nations troops Saturday, seizing weapons and wounding one U.N. soldier in the eye. A United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) spokesman said that the Lebanese army intervened and that the U.N. soldiers retrieved their weapons.

The clash was an escalation of increasing tension in southern Lebanon, where UNIFIL officers have said they cannot carry out a mandate to keep Hizbullah from being armed. Saturday’s incident occurred after a U.N. vehicle arrested an Arab who opposed the presence of the international soldiers. Local residents joined the opposition and attacked the French troops with rocks, sticks and eggs, wounding a soldier in the eye and smashing windows of jeeps.

...

Hizbullah, which has been accused of agitating villagers to violence, blamed the United Nations troops for causing confrontations. Naim Qassem, the deputy leader of the terrorist organization, told a Lebanese newspaper Saturday, "The situation can be calmed by a change in the conduct of the international forces."

In other words, if UNIFIL stops making a pretense of trying to disarm Hezbullah, things will calm down.

The thing that is most likely to force the withdrawal of international 'peacekeepers' is being attacked by one side or the other. Most countries are unwilling to have their troops die to keep the peace between two other countries. How long do you think France will be willing to have its troops risk their lives to protect Israel? I doubt it would be willing to do so for a week.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:01 AM