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Fall 2017 JPI

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Amid the Litani River and the Blue Line<br />

The case of Lebanon and Analysis of UNIFIL II<br />

Ana García Soria<br />

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which began 40 years ago, and the<br />

subsequent UNIFIL II, reborn a decade ago, have epitomized the fragility of Lebanon’s political and<br />

social architecture. 1 With a renovated mandate since 2006, UNIFIL II still challenges the effectiveness<br />

of the United Nations (UN) in terms of peacekeeping operations (PKOs). 2 The complexity of UNIFIL<br />

II’s mission is embedded in Lebanon’s chronic traits of political instability and insecurity—due in part<br />

to its confessional system and the ineffectiveness of its political mechanisms of shared power. 3<br />

Sectarian tensions, clashes in border areas, political assassinations, kidnappings, and the impact of<br />

refugee flows from Syria continue to ravage Lebanon’s sociopolitical reality. 4 The UN PKO in<br />

Lebanon finds itself in a turbulent situation, fueled by the weakness of the Lebanese government in<br />

preserving its own legitimacy. Three elements coexist, interact, and lead to the current instability of<br />

UNIFIL II: the fragility of Lebanon’s state the insurgent movement of Hezbollah, and the impact of<br />

political interests of foreign powers. Despite the opportunities that have emerged with the PKO<br />

intervention, sectarian struggles continue to divide the population, and the interference in Lebanese<br />

internal affairs by Syria, Iran, Israel, and Hezbollah, among many others that settle their bilateral<br />

disputes over Lebanese territory, further complicates matters.<br />

Empirical and rational debates on UNIFIL II raise concerns over whether the UN should<br />

continue to provide support and services in Lebanon, particularly since the last extension of the<br />

mandate until August 2018. 5 The aim of this paper, therefore, is to navigate the factors that have led<br />

to UNIFIL’s creation, how the operation has succeeded or failed to address controversies on both<br />

sides of the Blue Line, and what these successes and failures reveal about the future of PKOs in<br />

Lebanon. Given the new hostilities orchestrated by Hezbollah since 2006, what are the recurring and<br />

future dilemmas related to the Blue Line between Lebanon and Israel?<br />

PKOs are humanitarian aid missions operating at the international level, essentially embodying<br />

the fundamental principles that govern the Preamble of the UN Charter: to guarantee international<br />

peace and security. 6 The need for peace operations comes from the 1945 collective security system of<br />

the UN. This system commits all states to contribute to international peace and prohibits them from<br />

resorting to the use of force, barring exceptions such as authorization by the UN Security Council<br />

(UNSC). The fall of the Berlin Wall creates a division between first-generation and second-generation<br />

of peace operations. This division makes Lebanon’s case a unique one worthy of scholarly attention<br />

with both generations clearly manifested. The initial UNIFIL emerges as a first-generation type, with<br />

1 “Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon” (S/2006/560), United Nations. Approved 21 July 2006.<br />

Accessed December 12, <strong>2017</strong>. http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/2006/560<br />

2 “United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) Background,” United Nations. Last modified <strong>2017</strong>. Accessed December 10, <strong>2017</strong>.<br />

http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/missions/unifil/background.shtml<br />

3 “Country Reports – Lebanon,” IHS Markit, Published February 28, <strong>2017</strong>, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost. Accessed December 12, <strong>2017</strong>,<br />

http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.proxy.library.nyu.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=3&sid=fa879642-ee6c-488d-9b39-e3383d670d79%40sessionmgr101<br />

4 “Letter dated 12 March 2012 from the Secretary-General addressed to the President of the Security Council” (S/2015/475), United Nations,<br />

Approved March 22, 2012. Accessed December 8, <strong>2017</strong>. http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/2015/475<br />

5 “Middle East” (S/RES/2373), United Nations. Approved August 30, <strong>2017</strong>. Accessed December 10, <strong>2017</strong>.<br />

http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/s_res_2373.pdf<br />

6 “Charter of the United Nations and Statute of the International Court of Justice,” United Nations, Approved in 1945. Accessed November 28, <strong>2017</strong>,<br />

https://treaties.un.org/doc/publication/ctc/uncharter.pdf.<br />

<strong>JPI</strong> <strong>Fall</strong> <strong>2017</strong>, pg. 28

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