JERUSALEM—The scandal-plagued U.N. mission set up to stop Hezbollah rocket attacks on Israel will know in late August if the Trump administration plans to vote to discontinue its mandate at the U.N. Security Council.
In interviews with Fox News Digital, several leading American and Israeli experts on the mandate have called for the U.S. government to pull the plug on the mandate because the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is an example of the U.N.’s ineffectiveness in stopping the Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist movement.
"Among countless failures by the United Nations in the Middle East, UNIFIL may be the most spectacular. Tasked with ensuring that Hezbollah would not rearm after the 2006 war, it patiently watched as Hezbollah became the largest non-state terrorist and military organization in the world. Stability in Lebanon — within reach only now that Israel has decapitated Hezbollah’s leadership — will not be achieved through UNIFIL," the former U.S. Ambassador during the first Trump administration, David Friedman, told Fox News Digital.
EXCLUSIVE: A LOOK AT HEZBOLLAH'S PLAN TO TERRORIZE AND INVADE NORTHERN ISRAEL
After the conclusion of the Second Lebanon War in 2006 between Israel and Hezbollah, the UNSC passed Resolution 1701, which outlined that the international force UNIFIL, along with the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), was supposed to block Hezbollah’s activity in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah joined Hamas in its war on the Jewish state a day after the Iranian regime-backed terrorist organization in Gaza invaded Israel on October 7, 2023, and slaughtered over 1,200 people, including more than 40 Americans.
In October, Fox News Digital reported that UNIFIL soldiers had failed to stop Hezbollah’s massive rocket and military weapons expansion since the mandate was implemented in 2006.
Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon at the time accused UNIFIL of failing to enforce its mission to prevent the U.S.-designated terrorist movement Hezbollah from establishing military outposts on the border with Israel.
Israel’s incursion into southern Lebanon has revealed a military outpost about a mere 300 yards north of the border with the Jewish state that is filled with explosives and mines, according to Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
ISRAEL ORDERS IDF TO SEIZE MORE GAZA TERRITORY IF HAMAS DOESN'T RELEASE HOSTAGESWhen asked if Israel seeks an end of the UNIFIl mandate, Jonathan Harounoff, international spokesperson for Israel’s Mission to the United Nations, told Fox News Digital this week that "Israel is still evaluating the situation."
A U.S. State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital that "We have nothing to announce at this time" about a vote against continuing the UNIFIL mandate.
Dr. Zoe Levornik and Sarit Zehavi, from the Israel Alma Research and Education Center—one of the top think tanks assessing UNIFIL and Hezbollah—wrote on the organization’s webpage on June 10: "Over the years, UNIFIL has had numerous opportunities to improve and fulfill its role, particularly in light of Israel’s repeated warnings. Yet no real attempt has been made to alter the organization’s conduct. There is no reason to believe that renewing the mandate—even with improvements—will bring about the necessary change that would make UNIFIL’s presence in southern Lebanon relevant and effective in maintaining the security of both Israel and Lebanon."
When confronted with the criticism from Alma about UNIFIL, the peacekeeping force's spokesman, Andrea Teneti, told Fox News Digital "The LAF continues to benefit from UNIFIL’s support—not only to ensure full deployment in areas currently occupied by Israel, but also through training, capacity-building, and the development of essential capabilities needed to take over our mandated tasks on land and at sea.
"The mission’s relevance remains vital in maintaining an impartial international presence on the ground, helping to monitor the situation and reinforce the efforts of the LAF. Additionally, UNIFIL is providing essential support to local communities during this particularly challenging period, contributing to stability in the area despite the numerous shelling monitored and reported since 27 November 2024."
FREED ISRAELI HOSTAGE TELLS UN, 'NO MORE EXCUSES,' SAYS AID IS FEEDING TERRORISTS
He added "Implementation of 1701 is not with UNIFIL but with the parties. We are supporting the parties in the implementation of the mandate, but commitment is needed from both sides. In recent months, during this new political environment, LAF and UNIFIL have been recovering a large number of ammunition caches as well as positions used previously by Hezbollah. The situation is more stable than earlier, but air strikes are continuing and the stability is still fragile."
Zehavi, who lives in northern Israel, where Hezbollah has caused severe destruction with missile fire, countered the UNIFIL spokesman's comments. She told Fox News Digital that all the things mentioned by UNIFIL "are secondary to the primary issue of the mandate, which is the disarmament of Hezbollah."
Zehavi added that despite the UNIFIL spokesman claiming that UNIFIL seized ammunition used by Hezbollah, she noted that UNIFIL has provided no evidence. She asked "in which towns" Hezbollah is being disarmed. She stressed, "Where are the pictures? How come there are no proofs and only statements that they are doing that? As a resident of the north, I want to see proofs to remind everybody that the IDF showed proofs of the arms of Hezbollah in south Lebanon and brought them into Israel."
She also asked where has UNIFIL been over the last 18 years in training the Lebanese army?" I think the United States and France can do that better than UNIFIL," mentioning the new mechanism set up to address violations via U.S. and French Generals who are in the region, she said.
Zehavi said UNIFIL over the years "tied our hands" during the Israel-Hezbollah war.
She added that Israel is enforcing the disarming of Hezbollah via continued military strikes in the south. The Biden administration and France brokered a fragile ceasefire in November between Hezbollah and Israel. The language of the ceasefire states it aims to "promote conditions for a permanent and comprehensive situation." The ceasefire ended 14 months of high-intensity warfare between Israel and Hezbollah.
When asked about Zehavi’s questions, Teneti said "All our findings—whether related to activities conducted with or without the Lebanese Armed Forces—are shared with the members of the Security Council and also transmitted to the Mechanism, as agreed by both Lebanon and Israel. This is our authorized reporting line. Additionally, all detailed information is published quarterly in the Secretary-General’s report on the implementation of Resolution 1701, which is a public document."
Pro-Hezbollah officials and soldiers within Lebanon’s Army also remain a core problem, according to experts and media reports. In late January, a LAF chief reportedly sent a classified document to Hezbollah. The LAF‘s Suhil Bahij Gharb, who oversees military intelligence for southern Lebanon, secured the confidential material from a military facility run by the U.S., France and the U.N. interim force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
The White House and the U.S. National Security Council did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital press queries.
