U.N. peacekeeping mission winding down despite Israel violating ceasefire : NPR
UN peacekeepers in Lebanon face the end of a decades-old mission despite regular attacks from Israel breaking the year-old ceasefire.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
A UN peacekeeping mission monitoring Lebanon – sorry, the nearly half-century-old Lebanese-Israeli border is set to disappear next year. The United States and Israel pushed through a Security Council resolution ending their mandate, although things have not remained calm along the border. Jane Arraf reports from southern Lebanon.
UNIDENTIFIED PEACEKEEPER #1: (Non-English language spoken).
JANE ARRAF, BYLINE: We’re in a UNIFIL armored vehicle with U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon. They are Italians, one of the largest contingents of a peacekeeping mission that includes nearly 50 countries.
UNIDENTIFIED PEACEKEEPER #2: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: UNIFIL was created in 1978 to monitor Israel’s withdrawal after the occupation of southern Lebanon, targeting Palestinian militants. In recent years, fighting has been between the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Israel. And although the name of the mission was United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, it remained.
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ARRAF: We are with U.N. peacekeepers in the village of Yaroun, about a mile from the Israel-Lebanon border. We are in front of a church where there is no roof left after the airstrikes. It is a mixed Christian and Muslim village. And the damage here was caused at the height of the fighting, but in other towns along the border, Israeli airstrikes continued even after last year’s ceasefire. This ceasefire was negotiated by the United States. But while the UN says Hezbollah has not launched any cross-border attacks since then, the UN mission says Israel has violated the ceasefire around 10,000 times, including air and ground incursions.
UNIDENTIFIED PEACEKEEPER #3: (Non-English language spoken).
(LAUGH)
ARRAF: The Irish battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel Ed McDonagh, counts 14 Lebanese border villages in his sector.
ED MCDONAGH: I don’t see any presence of Hezbollah operatives operating in that area. You know, the Hezbollah flags are still flying. But from what we can see operationally, Hezbollah activity is minimal to none.
ARRAF: Israel, which has not provided evidence, says it is targeting Hezbollah’s attempts to rebuild its military infrastructure.
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ARRAF: But at UNIFIL headquarters in Beirut, in the mountains near the capital, spokeswoman Candice Ardell says they don’t see that either.
CANDICE ARDELL: We have seen no evidence that Hezbollah is rebuilding military infrastructure in the south. We continue to patrol, monitor and report violations that we see, but we have not seen the infrastructure rebuild.
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ARRAF: The UN says Israel has killed more than 300 people in Lebanon since the ceasefire, almost half of that number civilians. The Irish have served this mission continuously since the creation of UNIFIL. Nearly 50 Irish peacekeepers were killed in Lebanon.
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ARRAF: We climb onto a UNIFIL observation tower, where a platoon commander, Lieutenant Ciaran Higgins, shows us the blue line – the dividing line between the two countries.
CIARAN HIGGINS: So this dirt road is an Israeli patrol road, and it’s Israeli territory.
ARRAF: Israel says UNIFIL is biased against it. Lebanese villagers generally welcome the peacekeepers.
HIGGINS: Your interactions with the locals – they’re usually very approachable and friendly because even if they don’t know you, they know the flag that you carry on your shoulder. And they know how the Irish treated them.
UNIDENTIFIED PEACEKEEPER #2: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: UNIFIL protected Lebanese farmers, accompanying Lebanese army patrols monitoring the olive harvest to deter Israel from attacking. UNIFIL’s mandate ends in one year. It will take him another year to leave the country. The United States says the Lebanese army should intervene and take control. But in this volatile border zone, a lot could happen between now and then.
For NPR News, I’m Jane Arraf with UNIFIL in South Lebanon.
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