The UN Security Council’s unanimous decision to wind down its 40-year peacekeeping mission to Lebanon (Unifil) after another year represents another unhappy, if rather typical, UN compromise. A large majority of member states, including Ireland, wanted the mandate further extended, pending an assessment on the ground of whether withdrawal was yet justified. The veto-wielding US said it should be wound down immediately. A year’s respite was agreed.
Ireland contributes 348 troops to the 10,000 strong mission, making it the Defence Forces’ largest overseas posting and one in which it takes enormous pride. Over the years 47 Irish soldiers have died in Lebanon. Unifil provides a very imperfect, battered, buffer in south Lebanon between Israeli forces and Hizbullah. They have no mandate to use force except in self-defence.
Contrary, however, to Donald Trump’s justification for cutting UN peacekeeping funds – that Unifil was failing “to contain Hizbullah” – UN officials explain that it was never mandated to disarm Hizbullah, but had a more limited mandate to assist Israel and Lebanon in implementing their much-ignored ceasefire agreement of 2006.
Unifil’s main function now, in addition to its observation mission, will be assisting and training the Lebanese army as it re-establishes its authority in southern Lebanon, still partially occupied by Israel, and begins the agreed disarming of Hizbullah. Ireland has also suggested the establishment of an EU-led military training mission to succeed Unifil. EU militaries, including the Defence Forces, train thousands of Ukrainian troops in Germany and Poland.
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The Unifil compromise resolution illustrates once again the malign role played by the Big Five veto threat, this time by the US, in security council decisions. Had the majority not partially acceded to US pressure to dismantle Unifil, a potential US veto on the continuation of this important mission could have forced Ireland’s withdrawal, courtesy of our “triple lock” requirement for a UN mandate for overseas troop deployments.
