عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

Israel Calls For Changes in UN Peacekeeping in Lebanon

A picture taken on April 18, 2020, in the northern Israeli town of Malkiya, on the border with Lebanon, shows Israeli soldiers monitoring the movement of United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) on the Lebanese side of the border. (Photo by JALAA MAREY / AFP)
A picture taken on April 18, 2020, in the northern Israeli town of Malkiya, on the border with Lebanon, shows Israeli soldiers monitoring the movement of United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) on the Lebanese side of the border. (Photo by JALAA MAREY / AFP)
TT
20
TT

Israel Calls For Changes in UN Peacekeeping in Lebanon

A picture taken on April 18, 2020, in the northern Israeli town of Malkiya, on the border with Lebanon, shows Israeli soldiers monitoring the movement of United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) on the Lebanese side of the border. (Photo by JALAA MAREY / AFP)
A picture taken on April 18, 2020, in the northern Israeli town of Malkiya, on the border with Lebanon, shows Israeli soldiers monitoring the movement of United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) on the Lebanese side of the border. (Photo by JALAA MAREY / AFP)

Israel’s UN ambassador said Wednesday that his government is demanding major changes in the way the UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon operates on the ground and has support from the United States.

Ambassador Danny Danon told a video press briefing that Israel will insist that peacekeepers have access to all sites, that they have freedom of movement and that any time they are being blocked the UN Security Council must be immediately informed.

The peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, was originally created to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops after a 1978 invasion.

The mission was expanded after a 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah so that peacekeepers could deploy along the Lebanon-Israel border to help Lebanese troops extend their authority into their country’s south for the first time in decades, the Associated Press reported.

UNIFIL includes more than 9,400 ground troops and over 850 naval personnel in a Maritime Task Force. Its budget from July 2018-June 2019 was $474 million.

“We have seen that slowly there is less places that the troops in the peacekeeping operation can actually travel in southern Lebanon,” Danon said.

“So we want them to have full freedom of movement.”

“I have discussed it with the commander of the force and we tell them, `You are there, you cannot move and you can’t inspect, so why you are there?,”’ he said.

Danon said Israel knows that on many occasions UNIFIL troops haven't been able to enter suspicious sites, “and we proved in the past that Hezbollah are digging tunnels, they are bringing weapons to the border, and only in the last few weeks we have had a few incidents on the border.”

Israel has repeatedly accused Iranian-backed Hezbollah of impeding the peacekeepers from carrying out their mandate.

Danon added that Israel will continue pushing for reforms before the mandate for UNIFIL is renewed during the summer and will be explaining Israel’s position to council members.

He also praised US Ambassador Kelly Craft for her strong support.

Most Viewed

 
Arab World

Shiny and Deadly, Unexploded Munitions a Threat to Gaza Children

Many casualties are children desperate for something to do or searching through the rubble. Eyad BABA / AFP/File
Many casualties are children desperate for something to do or searching through the rubble. Eyad BABA / AFP/File
TT
20
TT

Shiny and Deadly, Unexploded Munitions a Threat to Gaza Children

Many casualties are children desperate for something to do or searching through the rubble. Eyad BABA / AFP/File
Many casualties are children desperate for something to do or searching through the rubble. Eyad BABA / AFP/File

War has left Gaza littered with unexploded bombs that will take years to clear, with children drawn to metal casings maimed or even killed when they try to pick them up, a demining expert said.

Nicholas Orr, a former UK military deminer, told AFP after a mission to the war-battered Palestinian territory that "we're losing two people a day to UXO (unexploded ordnance) at the moment."

According to Orr, most of the casualties are children out of school desperate for something to do, searching through the rubble of bombed-out buildings sometimes for lack of better playthings.

"They're bored, they're running around, they find something curious, they play with it, and that's the end," he said.

Among the victims was 15-year-old Ahmed Azzam, who lost his leg to an explosive left in the rubble as he returned to his home in the southern city of Rafah after months of displacement.

"We were inspecting the remains of our home and there was a suspicious object in the rubble," Azzam told AFP.

"I didn't know it was explosive, but suddenly it detonated," he said, causing "severe wounds to both my legs, which led to the amputation of one of them."

He was one of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians returning home during a truce that brought short-lived calm to Gaza after more than 15 months of war, before Israel resumed its bombardment and military operations last month.

For Azzam and other children, the return was marred by the dangers of leftover explosives.

'Attractive to kids'

Demining expert Orr, who was in Gaza for charity Handicap International, said that while no one is safe from the threat posed by unexploded munitions, children are especially vulnerable.

Some ordnance is like "gold to look at, so they're quite attractive to kids", he said.

"You pick that up and that detonates. That's you and your family gone, and the rest of your building."

Another common scenario involved people back from displacement, said Orr, giving an example of "a father of a family who's moved back to his home to reclaim his life, and finds that there's UXO in his garden".

"So he tries to help himself and help his family by moving the UXO, and there's an accident."

With fighting ongoing and humanitarian access limited, little data is available, but in January the UN Mine Action Service said that "between five and 10 percent" of weapons fired into Gaza failed to detonate.

It could take 14 years to make the coastal territory safe from unexploded bombs, the UN agency said.

Alexandra Saieh, head of advocacy for Save The Children, said unexploded ordnance is a common sight in the Gaza Strip, where her charity operates.

"When our teams go on field they see UXOs all the time. Gaza is littered with them," she said.

'Numbers game'

For children who lose limbs from blasts, "the situation is catastrophic", said Saieh, because "child amputees require specialized long-term care... that's just not available in Gaza".

In early March, just before the ceasefire collapsed, Israel blocked all aid from entering Gaza. That included prosthetics that could have helped avoid long-term mobility loss, Saieh said.

Unexploded ordnance comes in various forms, Orr said. In Gaza's north, where ground battles raged for months, there are things like "mortars, grenades, and a lot of bullets".

In Rafah, where air strikes were more intense than ground combat, "it's artillery projectiles, it's airdrop projectiles", which can often weigh dozens of kilograms, he added.

Orr said he was unable to obtain permission to conduct bomb disposal in Gaza, as Israeli aerial surveillance could have mistaken him for a militant attempting to repurpose unexploded ordnance into weapons.

He also said that while awareness-raising could help Gazans manage the threat, the message doesn't always travel fast enough.

"People see each other moving it and think, 'Oh, they've done it, I can get away with it,'" Orr said, warning that it was difficult for a layperson to know which bombs might still explode, insisting it was not worth the risk.

"You're just playing against the odds, it's a numbers game."