Hey, remember when the commander of UNIFIL condescendingly mocked Israelis for their insistence that Hezbollah had rearmed and regained their pre-Lebanon II strength? Remember how he bragged that the UN was "physically patrolling every corner of southern Lebanon" and that they "do not see a rearmament happening"? Opps:

More than a year after the summer war in southern Lebanon ended, the United Nations said Wednesday the Hezbollah militia has "rebuilt and even increased its military capacity." A report to the United Nations Security Council on progress to pacify southern Lebanon said Hezbollah's military strength is now comparable to the period before the July-August 2006 war with the Israel Defense Forces, which ended with a council-ordered ceasefire. The report said the findings about the situation in the region is "deeply disconcerting and stands in stark contradiction to the terms of Resolution 1559," which contains the ceasefire provisions. It called for disarming forces in southern Lebanon and for the UN peacekeeping operations and Lebanese army to monitor the ceasefire.

Let's pretend that UNIFIL commander Maj.-Gen. Claudio Graziano was serious when he said that he saw no signs that Hezbollah was rearming. Isn't that a sign of total incompetence? The guy in charge of knowing whether Hezbollah is rearming said he saw "no sign." Except it turns out that he was exactly wrong. So - not to put too fine a point on it - obviously UNIFIL is being run by an incompetent who should be fired immediately.

Of course, everybody knew - even at the time - that he was just lying through his teeth to try to extract Israeli security concessions. That's the nudge-nudge wink-wink of Middle East diplomacy, where everybody knows that assurances to Israel are lies but everyone acts if they don't know that. That's how it always happens.

That's also the reason why nobody's surprised that Hezbollah has rearmed. Everyone knew that the only parts of 1559 that would ever be enforced were the parts that called for Israeli concessions. They just acted as if they didn't. [Photo]

References:
* do not see a rearmament happening [MR]
* UN: Hezbollah has increased military strength since 2006 war [Ha'aretz]
* Hamas Has 200 Tons Of Explosives That The US Gave To Fatah (Plus: Egypt Says It's Israel's Fault) [MR]

Previously:
* EU Again Backs Out of Monitoring Agreement, Endangers Israeli Security
* Egypt Uncovers A Single Smuggling Tunnel, Basically Calls It A Day (Plus: Egypt In Explicit Violation Of Security Agreements?)
* Outrage Of The Day: UNIFIL Allowed Hezbollah To Plant Bombs