One of the successes of the Second Lebanon War that Olmert points to is the fact that Hezbollah said no to international peacekeeping forces in Lebanon, and they were sent anyway. How successful has this big success been in disarming Hezbollah?
Hezbollah has moved its short-range Katyusha rockets into built-up areas in southern Lebanon, mostly in Shi’ite villages, to hide them from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), military sources say.
Since its reinforced deployment after the cease-fire last August, UNIFIL has carried out extensive searches in southern Lebanon’s open brush areas, where Hezbollah built up extensive underground fortifications and set up launch pads for its rocket attacks against Israel.
In recent months, more than 90 percent of these areas have been searched, and UNIFIL patrols have found and destroyed Hezbollah arms, including Katyusha launchers, Katyusha rockets and explosives.
[…] During searches after the war, 33 such areas – which the Israel Defense Forces euphemistically terms “nature reserves” – were located. These included bunkers and underground tunnels, some of which are sufficiently complex to include sub-systems, all built by Hezbollah south of the Litani River during the six years following the IDF withdrawal from southern Lebanon. Most of the rockets fired against Israel during the war last year were launched from the “nature reserves.”
Gee, that sounds great. So what’s the problem? Well, Hezbollah’s simply moving the missiles around like chess pieces.
The UNIFIL searches have revealed that the condition of the bunkers and fortifications in the “nature reserves” has deteriorated – suggesting that Hezbollah fighters have not tried to return to these permanently. However, it is also clear that some Hezbollah fighters do occasionally return to the area to maintain some of the fortifications.
As an alternative to the “nature reserves,” Hezbollah is trying to transfer significant numbers of its rockets into built-up areas, mostly in the dozens of Shi’ite villages south of the Litani.
Most of the organization’s long-range rockets are kept north of the river, but there is a continuous effort to smuggle missiles into southern Lebanon, controlled by UNIFIL.
Israel has recently issued a number of warnings to Lebanon that if in the future there is an outbreak of hostilities and Hezbollah launches rockets from built-up areas, the IDF will not hesitate to bomb – and even totally destroy – urban areas after it gives Lebanese civilians the chance to flee.
I can see the headlines now. Hell, they’re probably already written and waiting for the next war.
Funny how you never hear that Hezbollah is in violation of UNSCR 1701 in every AP story about Hezbollah’s weapons. It’s almost as if the only country that matters when discussing UN Resolutions is Israel.
Did anybody with even slightly more brains than a butter clam think the UN troops were going to be anything but ineffective?