The Addiction of International Forces Condemned to Failure

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Summary: The article discusses the implications of the United Nations Security Council's decision to end the international peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon, "UNIFIL," by the end of 2026, reviewing the history of international forces since 1978 and the structural and political challenges that have undermined their field role. The analysis clarifies that regional and local powers - from Palestinian factions and Israel to "Hezbollah" - have consistently hindered the state's sovereignty, making the presence of the forces nominal in the face of arsenals, tunnels, and recurring wars. The author warns of the difficult security and economic vacuum that will be left by the withdrawal of more than 10,000 soldiers amid the Lebanese army's unpreparedness for full deployment, fearing a return to a scenario of direct conflict between the occupation and illegal arms.

It is not easy for Lebanon to recover from its addiction to the international forces deployed in the south since 1978. Nothing suggests that it wants to heal or seeks an appropriate remedy. Almost everyone starts from the premise that the country needs an international presence. The common denominator between the official and popular positions, as well as European and Arab stances, is the search for an alternative to the "UNIFIL" forces, which the Security Council has decided to end their presence on the last day of this year (2026). Diplomatic movements are proposing and discussing alternatives, amid the pressure of the need for any substitute for fear of the challenges following the international vacuum.

It does not change the matter that the lesson before us is written on the wall, with influential powers keen to do anything to impose failure on the international forces so that Lebanon remains a playground for wars and conflicts and players larger than itself, and sometimes from the region. Success is prohibited, assuming it was a possible option. The reason is that it would hinder the military operations of Palestinian organizations after the "Cairo Agreement" in 1969, and the freedom of Israeli military operations, then it became a nuisance to the activities of "Hezbollah" in resisting and working for the Iranian project, and it limited Syria's ability to employ the Palestinian and Islamic resistances, and it continued to annoy Israel and Arab countries alongside Washington and Moscow.

In 1978, after an Israeli military operation against Palestinian organizations, the Security Council issued Resolution 425, which established international forces in the south and called for Israel's withdrawal. The first thing that the "Fatah" movement and other factions did was to provoke a military clash with the strongest battalion within the international forces, which was the French force, to create a precedent that would intimidate the French and others and make the mission of the international forces nominal. When Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982, the international forces appeared to be out of the game. When it was decided to send a multinational force after the Palestinian factions were expelled from Lebanon, cells that included suicide bombers took charge before the official announcement of the establishment of "Hezbollah" to attack the American and French military barracks with car bombs, resulting in hundreds of casualties and leading to the withdrawal of the multinational force.

In 2000, the Israeli occupation withdrew and the south was liberated, but "Hezbollah" continued its mission adjacent to Lebanon. In the 2006 war between "the party" and Israel, the Security Council issued Resolution 1701 and established the enhanced "UNIFIL", but the enhanced forces, like their predecessors, failed to carry out the mission assigned to them to assist the Lebanese army in asserting sovereignty over the entire land. Under its watch, "Hezbollah" established an extraordinary military infrastructure within massive tunnels, including tunnels in the Ali al-Taher heights and others, and launched two wars to support Gaza and Iran. Israel reoccupied the south and did not cease fire after the "trilateral framework agreement" between Lebanon and Israel under American sponsorship. Even after the agreement on the "cessation of hostilities" on November 28, 2023, and the announcement by the army, with the help of "UNIFIL", to establish operational control over the southern Litani, what emerged from forces, weapons, and infrastructure in the war supporting Iran revealed "the party"'s manipulation of everything.

Citing "Independent Arabic"