Will the UN marshall sufficient forces to dispatch to Lebanon to turn the fragile ceasefire into a lasting peace?

Alan Moir
Resolution 1701 is invoked under Chapter VI rather than Chapter VII, which means the more robust UNIFIL force - of up to 15,000 troops will continue to act as they have been since they first set foot in Lebanon in 1978, not as "peace enforcers" but rather as traditional peacekeepers.

Consequently, unless there is a Security Council revision of the underlying modus operandi for the new UNIFIL, it is fairly certain that the Israeli expectation of UNIFIL somehow forcing Hezbollah to lay down its arms will not materialize. The United States' pro-Israel biases precludes it from any direct peacekeeping role in Lebanon for the foreseeable future

After insisting that Israeli armed forces would depart from Lebanon "within 10 days", the bruised Israeli leadership is now revising its plans for withdrawal. Meanwhile, as refugees flood back to their war-ravaged villages, Hezbollah, which successfully stopped the Israeli attack on Lebanon, has flung itself to the front of the burgeoning reconstruction effort in southern Lebanon, funded with a deluge of petro-dollars from neighboring Iran. The Lebanese army, which sees Hezbollah as a group that is defending the country, will assist Hezbollah as best it can.