UN says Israeli tanks burst through gates of peacekeeper base

[moniss]

29. Hezbollah sent the rockets not

the government of Lebanon or the Lebanese State Military. As far as the role of UNIFIL it is a misconception by many people that they are supposed to shoot people and grab weapons from people and parties violating Resolution 1701. If that were the case there would be dead Israelis, downed drones, downed aircraft as well as dead members of radical groups in Lebanon.

The men and women of UNIFIL were never given the mandate to do those things and by design and agreement of the parties, including Israel, they are a "buffer and observer force" primarily for operations in Southern Lebanon and the Blue Line specifically along with assisting the Lebanese government in attempting to stabilize their military in order to increase the Lebanese ability to provide for increased safety and security in their own country. They also provide the training for personnel for landmine clearing as well as other training assistance for the maritime operations of the Lebanese State Forces regarding vessel inspection etc. UNIFIL also provides assistance for various civilian infrastructure projects. As I have noted elsewhere they investigate and report violations of Resolution 1701 to the respective parties for correction and also issue regular reports to the Secretary General.

It was a demand of all parties when negotiating the agreement that violations of Resolution 1701 be reported to the respective violators themselves for correction. The fact that every report details a multitude of occurrences by the two main parties would indicate that lack of self correction is not a defect of just one party or the other.