UNIFIL Mission Expansion: Hezbollah is Unhappy

Al-Markaziyah, 08-Sept-2022  

(Translated from Arabic)

The decision to renew the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was not taken this year in a “business as usual” manner. It has raised, and continues to raise, in substance and in form, much controversy. Yesterday, it was reported that the Bustros Palace [Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs] has asked the UN Security Council to delete mention of UN resolutions 1559 and 1680 from the text of the UNIFIL renewal decision as a “goodwill gesture” toward Hezbollah. However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement in which it said that “Lebanon respects all UN Security Council resolutions and is committed to them. It is out of question that a request was made to delete mention of the aforementioned resolutions as part of the UNIFIL renewal decision issued recently, given that the request to renew UNIFIL’s mission was made by the Lebanese authorities”.

No sooner had this controversy settled that another “hotter” issue was raised. While the official and final text of the renewal decision is not yet available, it was reported today that it includes, for the first time, the consent of the Security Council to expand UNIFIL's mission such that it is now authorized to carry out search operations and patrols within its area of action and without need for prior authorization or assistance from the Lebanese Army.

This expansion of UNIFIL's mandate used to be raised by Washington every year in New York whenever the term of UNIFIL was up for renewal. But Russia and China used to object to it, which prevented its approval by the Security Council. But this time, diplomatic sources tell Al-Markaziyah, the two countries did not object, and in effect the mission and tasks of UNIFIL south of the Litani River have been expanded.

The diplomatic sources also say that this development has irked Hezbollah, which has notified those concerned, primarily domestically, that this move will place UNIFIL in a confrontation with the villagers in the south, and Hezbollah won’t be able to control the situation if UNIFIL crosses red lines and "forbiddens". Hezbollah has also begun its own inquiry with Lebanese government officials about what happened and about those whose dereliction of duty has enabled such a decision by the United Nations.

Yet, what Hezbollah ignores, or chooses to ignore, is that an expansion of UNIFIL’s responsibilities would not have been agreed to by the Security Council if Russia and China wished it otherwise. Which means that this measure constitutes in fact a novel hardening of pressure by these two countries, particularly Moscow, vis-à-vis Hezbollah, leading to further limiting its freedom of action in the south. This posture by the Kremlin is in synch with its position on Israeli raids against Iranian targets in Syria which Russia has neither objected to nor condemned, thus giving it an implicit green light for continued action.

Therefore, the sources conclude, it seems that this UNIFIL mission expansion fits into an international consensus over the need to tighten the screws on Hezbollah and all other Iranian proxies in the region, and is not limited to the situation in the Lebanese south.