UN force fails Israel
August 21, 2006
The Telegraph (UK)
Original Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2006/08/21/dl2102.xml&sSheet=/opinion/2006/08/21/ixopinion.html

Whatever the Israeli commandos were doing in Baalbek - seeking to capture a Hizbollah leader or interdict arms shipments - their raid underlines the inadequacy of the Security Council's response to the crisis.
The main purpose of a long-running Franco-American initiative on Lebanon has been to eliminate Hizbollah's military power and thereby enable the government in Beirut to regain full control of the national territory. Resolutions 1559 and 1701 were adopted to that effect. And yet their eventual implementation has left the main challenge, that of disbanding and disarming Hizbollah's militia, unanswered. A beefed-up version of the discredited UN interim force (Unifil) will not do it. 
The Lebanese government has indicated that the 15,000 troops which it is due to deploy in the south will not search for weapons. And, in that the majority of its members are Shia, the army as a whole is an unreliable instrument with which to face down a movement enjoying unprecedented renown not just in Lebanon but across the Islamic world. Hizbollah has given no sign of wishing to disarm, a stance supported by both Iran, its main supplier, and Syria, its conduit.
As for Unifil Mark 2, France, its commander, is dismayed by the weakness of the mandate and has pledged 200 troops out of an intended total of 15,000. Germany, terrified - for historical reasons - that it might have to fire on Israeli forces, is planning to send only a small naval unit. 
Turkey is similarly nervous at having to face Hizbollah, and the same could be said for the contingents from Muslim Asian countries such as Malaysia and Bangladesh. As things stand, Mark 2 is likely to be as toothless as its predecessor. Once again, the Security Council has failed to live up to its name. 
It is not surprising that Amir Peretz, the Israeli defence minister, spoke yesterday of having to prepare for the next round of fighting.