(Bloomberg) -- United Nations peacekeepers have been deployed in south Lebanon since 1978, when Israel first invaded its northern neighbor in pursuit of militants that had attacked it from there. Israel is still battling fighters based in south Lebanon — though different ones — and UN forces are still present, their fundamental mission of restoring peace and security to the area unfulfilled. Amid a new conflagration between Israel and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, the peacekeepers themselves have come under Israeli fire in recent days, resulting in injuries to four of them. Israeli officials deny targeting the peacekeepers and say the Iran-backed Hezbollah deliberately operates near UN positions.
Origins of the Peacekeeping Force
In the 1970s, Palestinian commandos launched raids into Israel from Lebanon, provoking Israeli reprisals. In March 1978, after 35 civilians were killed in Israel in an attack on a bus, Israeli forces briefly invaded southern Lebanon with the goal of pushing the group responsible, the Palestine Liberation Organization, away from the border. Weeks later, the UN Security Council established the peacekeeping UN Interim Force in Lebanon, or Unifil.
It was tasked not only with confirming Israel’s withdrawal but also with restoring peace in southern Lebanon and helping the Lebanese government establish effective control there. Those goals would prove elusive.
Elusive Goals
Lebanon was then in the midst of a civil war that erupted mainly over the presence of armed Palestinian groups in the country. During the fighting, the peacekeepers were challenged by several factions. A Christian group allied with the Israeli army ambushed and killed two Irish peacekeepers in 1980, and a year later armed Palestinians attacked the force and abducted an Irish member of the UN force.
Israel invaded Lebanon once more in 1982, again with the aim of pushing back Palestinian militants. Its soldiers reached as far as the capital Beirut before retreating to the southern region and occupying parts of it for 18 years. In reaction to that occupation, Shiite Muslims in Lebanon formed what would become Hezbollah, now the dominant force in southern Lebanon. In addition to being a militia, Hezbollah is a political group that, together with its allies, holds considerable sway in Lebanese politics.
When Israel withdrew from Lebanon in 2000, Unifil drew up a de-facto 120 kilometer (75 mile) border dubbed the Blue Line. While it’s not a formal border demarcation, it’s based on “the best available cartographic and other documentary evidence,” according to the UN.
An Expanded Mandate
In 2006, UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended a monthlong war between Israel and Hezbollah, increased Unifil’s troop strength — from about 2,000 troops to a maximum of 15,000. Today the force has about 9,500 troops from 50 countries, dispersed across 50 positions in south Lebanon and a headquarters in the town of Naqoura. Indonesia contributes the most troops, followed by India, Ghana, Nepal and Italy.
Beyond making it bigger, Resolution 1701 expanded Unifil’s mandate. The resolution called for the creation of a buffer zone between the Blue Line and Lebanon’s Litani River that would be free of militants. The idea was that the peacekeepers would assist the Lebanese army in establishing its control over this 1,060 square kilometer area, to prevent militants from operating there and to secure the country’s southern border.
It didn’t work out that way. Wary of taking on the battle-tested Hezbollah, which enjoys popular support in the south, Lebanon’s army failed to firmly establish itself in the area. Hezbollah dug in, building extensive bunkers, attack tunnels and arms caches while flying its flag aboveground. And Israel’s air force continued overflights. Still, the border was relatively calm for the 17 years after the 2006 war.
That came to an end in October 2023, when Gaza Strip-based militants of the Palestinian group Hamas provoked a conflagration with Israel. Hezbollah joined in with its own attacks on Israel, prompting counterstrikes. Israel’s assault on Hezbollah escalated in September. Its airstrikes killed the group’s long-time leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and have destroyed a significant chunk of its arsenal. Israel has said its troops are carrying out targeted ground incursions into south Lebanon.
The View from Israel
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed regret for the injuries to Unifil soldiers and reiterated a request that the peacekeepers “temporarily leave the combat zone” to protect themselves. Foreign Minister Israel Katz said Israel places “great importance on the activities of Unifil and has no intention of harming the organization or its personnel.”
At the same time, other Israeli officials have complained that Unifil is ineffectual. In an Oct. 14 post on X, Energy and Infrastructure Minister Eli Cohen said “these forces have contributed nothing to maintaining stability and security in the region, have not ensured the enforcement of UN resolutions, and serve as a shield for Hezbollah.”
The View from Lebanon
For Lebanon, Unifil’s presence is a show of international support for a government incapable of imposing control over all of its territory.
For its part, Hezbollah has frequently accused Unifil of colluding with Israel and is suspicious of its presence in Lebanon. In 2017, Nasrallah criticized that year’s amendment of Unifil’s mandate, which allowed the peacekeepers to conduct more patrols in south Lebanon with the Lebanese army.
There’s never been a direct clash between Unifil and Hezbollah, but there have been incidents in which supporters of the group confronted UN patrols passing through southern villages. In one such case in 2022, an Irish peacekeeper was killed in a town outside of the UN’s mandate.
--With assistance from Dan Williams.
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.
