For nearly two decades, United Nations peacekeepers have watched helplessly as Hezbollah continues rearming along Israel's border since their last war. With Israel and Hezbollah now agreeing to a ceasefire after a year of fighting, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) once again finds itself central to peacekeeping efforts, yet remains unable to enforce a buffer zone between the parties, Wall Street Journal analysts say.
According to Lebanese officials, the deal includes a 60-day implementation period allowing Israeli forces to withdraw while the Lebanese military secures the border area and prevents Hezbollah from re-establishing an armed presence. An international committee, including UN peacekeepers, would monitor compliance.
But neither Lebanese forces nor UN troops could prevent Hezbollah from establishing combat positions in southern Lebanon and launching rockets across the border, as Israel responded with military overflights and occasional live fire. UN peacekeepers largely remained in their bases after coming under fire from both sides.
Israel maintains it must retain the freedom to strike at Hezbollah even post-ceasefire if it perceives the terrorist group as a threat. An Israeli official emphasized: "We're not talking about the dissolution of UNIFIL but also won't place the future security of northern Israel in UNIFIL's hands. We're not going back to Oct 6."
UNIFIL's challenging mandate dates to 1978, when Israel entered Lebanon after a Palestinian attack on a bus in central Israel killed 38 civilians, including 13 children. UNIFIL was tasked with monitoring Israeli military withdrawal and supporting Lebanese government security efforts in the volatile south.
By 1982, Israel was again engaged in Lebanon. Following the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, UNIFIL's responsibilities expanded to include monitoring Hezbollah's activities in southern Lebanon and supporting Lebanese military efforts under UN Security Council Resolution 1701.
UNIFIL reports violations to both the Lebanese army and Israel, which are responsible for addressing these issues, and to the UN secretary-general, who presents findings to the Security Council. However, Lebanon's army lacks sufficient funding and capabilities compared to Hezbollah, and the resolution provides limited mechanisms for enforcement.
Resolution 1701 faced immediate violations, and UNIFIL's mission grew increasingly complex. Despite conducting up to 10,000 monthly patrols, peacekeepers frequently reported restrictions on their movement and access to suspicious locations. The force cannot enter private property or detain civilians without Lebanese authorization.
Over the years, peacekeepers have faced mounting hostility and intimidation by Hezbollah and people in the south, who occasionally accuse them of spying for Israel and attack them. In 2010, UNIFIL reported an incident where Lebanese civilians attacked their 36-hour exercise, throwing stones, assaulting patrol leaders, damaging vehicles, and seizing weapons and ammunition.
In 2010, UNIFIL reported an explosion at a house in a village but said it couldn't determine the cause "as possible evidence was tampered with or removed before the UNIFIL investigation team was allowed access to the incident site." The Lebanese army was only allowed to enter after a standoff with villagers.
UNIFIL has achieved some success in defusing conflicts and has hosted meetings between the Lebanese army and Israel to prevent exchanges of fire. However, Hezbollah amassed so many arms near the border that the situation became unsustainable for Israel, said Richard Gowan, UN director at International Crisis Group. "It's been an open secret for quite a long time that you had Hezbollah operating in quite close proximity to UNIFIL," Gowan said.
The peacekeepers' last report to the UN before the Oct 7 attacks – dated July 2023 – highlights their ongoing challenges. They documented rocket fire, unauthorized weapons, Israeli airspace violations, tunnel construction, and a Hezbollah drill with rocket launchers and quadcopters, along with frequent harassment. A UN patrol was stopped in April by masked people and assaulted. The mission couldn't access suspicious border buildings belonging to an environmental group that the US and Israel accuse of being a Hezbollah front. Israeli tanks aimed guns at them several times, and lasers were pointed at them from both sides.
UNIFIL Spokesman Andrea Tenenti explained: "We go back to the limitation of the mission's mandate, what the mission can do and what we cannot do. But it's up to the Security Council to decide how to move forward. It's not up to the mission to take further steps that are not within the mission's mandate."
UNIFIL's observations have led to some action. In 2006, it reported finding weapons about weekly, including 17 Katyusha rocket launchers and a weapons cache. The Lebanese Armed Forces confiscated or destroyed these weapons after being notified.
Between December 2018 and April 2019, after Israeli notification, peacekeepers confirmed five tunnels, three crossing from Lebanon into Israel. They provided coordinates to Lebanese forces and urged them for months to fulfill Resolution 1701 commitments.
Former Israeli military liaison to UNIFIL Jonathan Conricus, now a senior fellow with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said UNIFIL told Israel it couldn't inspect tunnel locations without Lebanese military permission due to private property rights. When nothing happened after a month, Israeli forces pumped cement into one tunnel until it flooded a building and street on the Lebanese side.
From 2007 through 2022, the UN documented 22,355 Israeli airspace violations over Lebanon, according to the Earshot agency. Israeli officials say these flights are necessary for intelligence gathering due to UNIFIL's ineffective mandate fulfillment and inadequate reporting of Hezbollah's rearmament.
Former Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, who helped negotiate the 2006 resolution, reflected on UNIFIL's difficult position by referencing classical Persian poetry: "You throw a man in the water, then blame him for being wet."
