Sunday, October 01, 2006

Surprise Surprise UNIFIL policy changes

Go figure out yourselves:

"UN sources said Friday the strengthened international peacekeeping force in South Lebanon has the authority to arrest gunmen or even open fire on them. A copy of the rules of engagement, marked "restricted" but to which AFP had access, allows for "use of force beyond self-defense to ensure that UNIFIL's area of operations is not utilized for hostile activities of any kind."

""If we come across armed militiamen and they surrender, we will hand them over to the Lebanese Army. But if they resist, we can open fire," he said. "This is a much stronger UNIFIL."

But, despite the revamped UN peacekeeping force's new rules of engagement in South Lebanon, it remains powerless in the face of Israeli troops occupying their last positions.
The flying checkpoints which the Israeli Army has been erecting outside the village of Marwaheen and Thursday's incident between French Leclerc and Israeli Merkava tanks showed the limits of the UN's mandate.

link

(MFL notes : Israel can take free rides in Lebanon with guns,planes, and tanks, but not the Lebanese... interesting one-way to implement UN resolution 1701)

MFL

No comments: