The UN Security Council is due to vote on renewing the mandate of UN peacekeepers in Lebanon.
The 🇺🇸 U.S. has branded UNIFIL an “abject failure” and reportedly wants it shut down, while 🇫🇷 France is pushing to prolong it.
Here's what you need to know: 🧵
2/ UNIFIL was established in 1978, but after the 2006 war between Israel and the Hezbollah terrorist organization in Lebanon, the UN Security Council strengthened UNIFIL’s mandate.
UNIFIL was entrusted with overseeing Hezbollah’s disarmament and withdrawal from southern Lebanon.
3/ Instead, the opposite happened.
Hezbollah — with the help of its Iranian patrons — methodically built up a massive network of tunnels, arms and attack infrastructure inside UNIFIL’s area of responsibility in southern Lebanon.
📸 Hezbollah weapons parade in Nabatiyeh, 2012
4/ For the most part, UNIFIL turned a blind eye to Hezbollah’s violations of UN resolutions.
On the rare occasion that UNIFIL did try to act against Hezbollah, they either retreated at the first sign of resistance, or were violently attacked by the terror group:
5/ Then, Israel uncovered six massive attack tunnels dug by Hezbollah from Lebanon into Israel—right under UNIFIL’s nose.
UN Watch told the UN that this was a flagrant violation of UNSC Res. 1701 & international law.
What did the UN do?
Nothing.
6/ Doing nothing had serious consequences.
On Oct. 8, 2023, a day after Hamas’s massacre in southern Israel, Hezbollah began attacking Israel’s north.
Hezbollah mobilized the arms it had built up over 17 years under UNIFIL's watch & began firing thousands of missiles at Israel.
7/ Hezbollah fired many of these rockets from launch sites located right next to United Nations bases in southern Lebanon.
Yes, UNIFIL simply let Hezbollah attack Israeli civilians from next to their outposts:
8/ Hezbollah even fired rockets toward Israel that fell short and hit UNIFIL bases in Lebanon, injuring UNIFIL personnel.
Absurdly, UNIFIL would not even name Hezbollah in their press statements, instead referring to the culprit as an “armed element.”
9/ IDF ground raids against Hezbollah terror strongholds in southern Lebanon exposed the scale of Hezbollah's entrenchment around UNIFIL’s bases.
Journalists on the ground in southern Lebanon documented this historic scandal:
10/ Still UNIFIL insisted on remaining in position and refused calls to temporarily evacuate their posts as the fighting intensified.
Predictably, the world rushed to condemn Israel for any unintended damage to UNIFIL posts—providing UNIFIL with a small, but hollow, PR win.
11/ UNIFIL had one job—and it failed spectacularly.
The approx. $9 billion spent on UNIFIL between 2006-2023 was meant to stop Hezbollah from starting another war with Israel.
Instead, UNIFIL became Hezbollah's best friend and the opposite occurred.
12/ UNIFIL should not be rewarded for failure with another open-ended mandate and blank check from the international community.
It’s time for the UN Security Council to face the facts—and shut UNIFIL down.
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