It seems that there is presently a confusion about what the mission of those troops will be. France wants to disarm Hezbollah, the UN doesn't. What does the Lebanese government want to do?
I think that people should note that Israel doesn't want a lot of Muslim countries (i.e. Indonesia, Malaysia and Bangladesh) to send Muslim troops there (which would be an asset to the peackeeping force) because they don't recognize Israel. I think it's rather haughty of them to assert that kind of influence on the peacekeeping force. Just wanted to note that.
So my question is: what is going to happen with this peacekeeping force of 15,000 who it seems will be operating besides 15,000 Lebanese troops and in the Hezbollah stronghold? Will they try to disarm Hezbollah? Will they conduct raids on Hezbollah weapons caches? Will they have to fight Hezbollah themselves? Will Hezbollah wait until things quite down and then go back to fighting with Israel?
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French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said France wanted to create an arms-free "exclusion zone" in southern Lebanon to separate Israeli troops and Hezbollah guerrillas. "Our objective is clear, to disarm Hezbollah," Douste-Blazy said, but he added that military force was not the answer. "The only solution is to have a political solution."
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said it was not the United Nations' task to strip the guerrillas of their weapons. "The troops are not going there to disarm Hezbollah. Let's be clear about that," he said after meeting with EU ministers. He said disarmament is an issue for Lebanon's government, and "cannot be done by force."
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08-25-2006
What will happen in Southern Lebanon and with the UN peacekeeping force?
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