IDF withdrawal from stalled until UNIFIL role spelled out

A disagreement with Israel over the rules of engagement for United Nations peacekeepers and the Lebanese Army is causing a delay in the withdrawal of the remaining Israel Defense Force troops from southern Lebanon.

Nonetheless, Defense Minister Amir Peretz promised Tuesday that in spite the differences, the IDF withdrawal will be completed in the near future and the “last soldier will leave southern Lebanon by Yom Kippur,” which begins on Sunday evening.

The timetable for the withdrawal of IDF troops from southern Lebanon was altered several times in recent weeks. Initially, the IDF estimated that by September 15, the troops would be in Israel. Then Chief of Staff Dan Halutz said that the withdrawal will be completed by the Jewish New Year, September 22.

The French commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), General Alain Pellegrini, said this week that he expected the IDF withdrawal to be completed by month’s end.

Currently there are several hundred IDF soldiers in southern Lebanon, mostly in the central front.

A team of IDF officers headed by Brigadier General Udi Dekel, head of the strategic planning division in the Planning Directorate, met Tuesday at the UNIFIL headquarters in Naqoura, a beachfront town in southern Lebanon, close to the border with Israel, with representatives of the Lebanese Army and UN officers.

This was the ninth such meeting since the cease-fire went into effect on August 14.

The main issue that has still not been finalized revolves around the way that Lebanese Army troops and peacekeepers will deal with armed Hezbollah militants who are identified south of the Litani River.

Israel’s interpretation of Security Council Resolution 1701, which brought about the cease-fire, expects that both UNIFIL and the Lebanese Army will initiate efforts to locate arms depots and armed Hezbollah militants and disarm them.

In the IDF the view is that after the withdrawal is completed, if Israeli soldiers along the border fence feel threatened and the peacekeeping forces do not deal with the situation, the soldiers will be entitled to defend themselves.

However, the UN view of the role of UNIFIL is that of a police force, which will only fire if it is fired upon, in an act of self-defense.

On the basis of this argument UNIFIL is also unlikely to disperse Hezbollah demonstrations along the fence, and limit its actions to “demonstrating presence” so that the demonstrators will be convinced to leave the area.

Israel is waiting for clarifications from the UN on the creation of a mechanism for dealing with emergency situations. Such a mechanism, said a senior IDF officer last night, should be “a well-oiled mechanism for tactical coordination in dealing with problems in real time.”

Source: Haaretz