Hezbullah's message to UNIFIL
Sorry for the light posting over the last 18 hours or so. It is likely to continue for another few hours.In an earlier post, I reported on a roadside bomb directed against UNIFIL's French troops on Tuesday night in which three (it's now been raised to six) troops were wounded. The IDF believes that the bombing was meant to send a message to UNIFIL.
The bombing of a UNIFIL convoy in southern Lebanon on Tuesday night was likely aimed at sending a message to the peacekeeping force to scale back its operations against Hezbollah, Israeli defense officials said on Wednesday.Funny - some of us flagged that as an issue five years ago (no time to go look up the link now). What could go wrong?
UNIFIL’s mandate is up for renewal in mid-August and the attack is understood in Israel as a sign of Hezbollah concern that the force is looking to bolster its rules of engagement.
...
Israel has been lobbying diplomats from countries which contribute to UNIFIL – particularly Spain, Italy and France – to get the UN to issue new rules of engagement for the peacekeeping force that will enable it to search Lebanese villages without prior coordination with the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF).
According to UNIFIL’s current rules of engagement, the force is not allowed to enter southern Lebanese villages to search for Hezbollah arms caches unless it coordinates the operation with the LAF. If approved by the UN, the new rules would still need to be approved by the Lebanese government.
Labels: Hezbullah, Hezbullah bunkers, Hezbullah weapons, UNIFIL rules of engagement
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:46 AM
2 Comments:
Carl - Israel is joking, right? A Hezbollah-dominated Lebanese government is never going to approve such a change in the rules of engagement.
Good luck with that request to the UN.
I think the best thing for Israel is if UNIFIL pulled out completely. When war breaks out they will only get in Israels way.
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