See? And you thought the worst they were doing was handing over Israeli intelligence to Hezbollah so that Hezbollah could root out spies and double agents. Not nearly ambitious enough:
UNIFIL peacekeepers in Lebanon, whose mandate was to ensure that Hizbullah not be permitted to rearm or expand it’s presence south of the Litani River following the Second Lebanon War, has been engaged in an altogether different mission – arresting those suspected of spying for Israe… one Spanish UNIFIL commander mentioned that his troops had been “looking for Israeli spies,” and had in fact made a “number of arrests, mostly in Shia areas of Lebanon.”
In 2006 a UNIFIL truck went missing while under the supervision of a peacekeeper who describes Lebanon as his “second homeland.” It turned up a few months later when it was used by Hezbollah to lure Israeli soldiers to the Lebanese border, kill them, steal their bodies, and start a regional war. Apparently the beefed up post-war UNIFIL presence – which, remember, was the pro-Israeli side of the ceasefire resolution – hasn’t really done much to change UNIFIL’s institutional culture.
Earlier this year there were a spate of bombings and near bombings targeting UNIFIL forces. That seems to have died down. I’m not saying there was a formal quid pro quo, but UN peacekeepers aren’t usually known for their initiative. These are the same people who insist that they’re doing more than enough to prevent Hezbollah from rearming:
It is highly unlikely that Hizbullah has more weapons now in southern Lebanon than they did at the time of their 2006 war with Israel, the head of UN peacekeeping said on Wednesday. Israel says Hizbullah continues to increase its weapons stockpiles south of the Litani River where the 13,000-strong UNIFIL peacekeeping mission is charged with keeping out armed fighters and illicit weapons. “I think it would be very difficult for Hizbullah to put additional weapons in the area,” Alain Le Roy, the French head of the UN Department of Peacekeeping, told reporters. “I don’t speak of north of the Litani River, because there UNIFIL has no mandate,” he said. “But south of the Litani River, we consider it very unlikely.”
That, in case you didn’t know, is bullshit. And the way you can be sure it’s bullshit is because UNIFIL troops watched Hezbollah moving weapons south of the Litani, right before they were shooed away like errant children. That’s why the UN admitted over two years ago that Hezbollah had rearmed south of the Litani. Maybe they gave up all their weapons in the intervening time, and the only person they told was Le Roy (h/t: MR reader Jerry) .
References and previously after the jump…
References:
* UN Peacekeepers Leaking Israeli Intel To Hezbollah [MR]
* Channel 10: UNIFIL helping to bust Israeli spy ring in Lebanon [JPost]
* UNIFIL Involvement in 2000 Kidnapping Not News. Involvement of UNIFIL Soldier Who Thought of Lebanon as “Second Homeland”, However, Is. [MR]
* Italian UNIFIL contingent finds plastic explosives near base [Israel Matzav]
* UN doubts major Hizbullah rearming in south Lebanon [YNet]
* Jimmy Carter Gets His Wish: Hezbollah Has Anti-Aircraft Missiles [MR]
* ‘Hezbollah has more rockets than before Lebanon war’ [Ha'aretz]
* UNIFIL Soldiers Catch Hezbollah Moving Weapons, Get Shooed Away [MR]
* Smug Condescending Sophisticates Admit They’ve Been Lying Through Their Teeth About Israeli Security I – UN Admits Hezbollah Is Rearming [MR]
Previously:
* Take Away Hezbollah’s Collaborators, Human Shields, And Useful Idiots. Disband UNIFIL Now.
* Hezbollah Using Proxies To Bomb Israeli Civilians, Erode Israel’s Deterrent
* Unknown Group With Freedom Of Movement In South Lebanon And A Katyusha Stockpile Bombs Israel. No Retaliation Planned.
