Between Israel and Hezbollah, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has its hands tied, as the bombing in south Lebanon continues.
On July 12, 2006. 18 years ago, Hezbollah involved Lebanon in a 33-day war against Israel. The war has cost the lives of more than 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers.
On July 12, 2024, Lebanon has once again been dragged into a war with Israel since Oct. 8, following Hezbollah’s decision to support Hamas in the wake of its al-Aqsa Flood operation against Israel.
The UNIFIL, which currently has 10,000 troops and was set up in 1978 after the first Israeli invasion of Lebanon amid the Civil War, is no stranger to these two wars.
During the 2006 July war, the Blue Helmets failed to keep the peace. Today, despite ongoing Gaza cease-fire talks, tension is at its highest, and the conflict, hitherto confined to south Lebanon and sometimes the Bekaa valley, risks setting the whole country on fire.
‘We’re in a bunker. Something is going to happen’
Perceived with suspicion by Hezbollah and harassed by its supporters in the south, the UN soldiers nevertheless continue their mission, patrolling daily along the Blue Line, which has served as a (disputed) border since the Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon in 2000. These patrols have been an attempt to re-establish peace, amid an unnamed war. L’Orient-Le Jour accompanied UNIFIL on one of these patrols along the border with Israel.
On July 12, 2024, at 9:30 a.m., we were scheduled to meet a UNIFIL at a Lebanese Army checkpoint in Khardali above the Litani River in the Marjayoun district. But the Blue Helmets were not there. “We’re in a bunker. Something is going to happen. We have to wait,” said Spanish Lieutenant-Colonel José Irisarri, information officer for the UNIFIL eastern sector, in a WhatsApp message.
Three hours later, the high level of alert three was lifted and the peacekeepers left their base. In the end, no shelling took place. “Last Wednesday, I celebrated my 46th birthday in this bunker,” he said jokingly. He arrived in a convoy of two white armored vehicles bearing UN flags.
We headed for Kfar Kila, Adaisseh and then Khiam, ghost villages tormented by the Israeli army’s almost daily strikes. Not a soul was in sight. Only a few houses were still standing amid the rubble. “To our right, this house was still standing two weeks ago. Today, it’s gone,” he said. A few yellow Hezbollah flags and Shiite banners have been hanging over the rubble, as a sign of defiance of the enemy.
