JERUSALEM—The troubled U.N. mission aimed at preventing Hezbollah rocket attacks on Israel will learn in late August if the Trump administration intends to vote against renewing its mandate at the U.N. Security Council.
In discussions with Fox News Digital, numerous key American and Israeli specialists on the mandate have urged the U.S. government to end the mandate, citing the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) as an illustration of the U.N.’s ineffectiveness in halting the Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist group.
“Out of countless failures by the United Nations in the Middle East, UNIFIL might be the most striking. It was assigned to ensure that Hezbollah wouldn’t rearm after the 2006 war, yet it watched as Hezbollah evolved into the world’s largest non-state terrorist and military entity. Stability in Lebanon — only possible now that Israel has targeted Hezbollah’s leadership — will not be achieved through UNIFIL,” David Friedman, a former U.S. Ambassador under the first Trump administration, told Fox News Digital.
He added “Implementation of 1701 is not with UNIFIL but with the parties. We are supporting the parties in the implementation of the mandate, but commitment is needed from both sides. In recent months, during this new political environment, LAF and UNIFIL have been recovering a large number of ammunition caches as well as positions used previously by Hezbollah. The situation is more stable than earlier, but air strikes are continuing and the stability is still fragile.”
Zehavi, who lives in northern Israel, where Hezbollah has caused severe destruction with missile fire, countered the UNIFIL spokesman’s comments. She told Fox News Digital that all the things mentioned by UNIFIL “are secondary to the primary issue of the mandate, which is the disarmament of Hezbollah.”
Zehavi added that despite the UNIFIL spokesman claiming that UNIFIL seized ammunition used by Hezbollah, she noted that UNIFIL has provided no evidence. She asked “in which towns” Hezbollah is being disarmed. She stressed, “Where are the pictures? How come there are no proofs and only statements that they are doing that? As a resident of the north, I want to see proofs to remind everybody that the IDF showed proofs of the arms of Hezbollah in south Lebanon and brought them into Israel.”
She also asked where has UNIFIL been over the last 18 years in training the Lebanese army?” I think the United States and France can do that better than UNIFIL,” mentioning the new mechanism set up to address violations via U.S. and French Generals who are in the region, she said.
An IDF soldier is photographed near anti-tank missiles that belongs to the terror group Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon. (IDF)
Zehavi said UNIFIL over the years “tied our hands” during the Israel-Hezbollah war.
She added that Israel is enforcing the disarming of Hezbollah via continued military strikes in the south. The Biden administration and France brokered a fragile ceasefire in November between Hezbollah and Israel. The language of the ceasefire states it aims to “promote conditions for a permanent and comprehensive situation.” The ceasefire ended 14 months of high-intensity warfare between Israel and Hezbollah.
When asked about Zehavi’s questions, Teneti said “All our findings—whether related to activities conducted with or without the Lebanese Armed Forces—are shared with the members of the Security Council and also transmitted to the Mechanism, as agreed by both Lebanon and Israel. This is our authorized reporting line. Additionally, all detailed information is published quarterly in the Secretary-General’s report on the implementation of Resolution 1701, which is a public document.”
Pro-Hezbollah officials and soldiers within Lebanon’s Army also remain a core problem, according to experts and media reports. In late January, a LAF chief reportedly sent a classified document to Hezbollah. The LAF‘s Suhil Bahij Gharb, who oversees military intelligence for southern Lebanon, secured the confidential material from a military facility run by the U.S., France and the U.N. interim force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
The White House and the U.S. National Security Council did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital press queries.
