Who is playing with the international forces and pushing them towards danger?
Article published in Lebanese press (Al-Akhbar) by Ibrahim al-Amin.
As Israel clashes with the "resistance," and so does the United States, leading to yet new levels [of violence], some Arab diplomatic, political and press circles continue to wallow in theories that reveal a paucity of analysis and deduction.
For example, some say that if Iran wishes to discuss nuclear energy with the West, it should arrange for two missiles to be fired at Israel from Lebanon; if Syria wishes to dialogue with the US it should first get its supporters to shoot missiles into Israeli villages; or if Hezbollah wishes to express its opinion of the March 14 group, it should attack Israel with missiles as well.
The US, Israel and the UN forces in Lebanon do not think in this manner. But there are two reasons why they should:
The first is the huge deficiency in following and studying the events around us at the meetings of the so-called March 14 secretariat, or the folkloric meetings held by the parliamentary blocs and political offices of that group. This is a fact that cannot be denied by most of the thinkers in the group.
The second is that the group lacks a realistic agenda based on an integrated program, and all it can find is expediency in marshalling its internal forces while slandering everybody else. The group does not understand that using such language will not deter the "resistance" nor make them waver in support of their leaders, since active slander against the "resistance" takes on a political-communal form rather than addressing the question of the "resistance" itself. Support for the "resistance" is no longer a simple matter of choice but has become a long-term commitment by supporters using all the power at their disposal.
Investigations in the field have not yet proved who was responsible [for shooting at Israel] and so the UN has informed Israel that it was unable to determine any link between Hezbollah and the groups that fired the missiles, since the modus operandi was not Hezbollah’s, but that does not mean that Hezbollah did not enable the action or turn a blind eye to it. Meanwhile those in charge of the UN forces, including security experts at some embassies in Beirut, say that fundamentalist Palestinian groups may have been behind these attacks, with the aim of destabilizing the border.
This implies that the UN forces must refrain from infringing upon the "resistance" even by their own patrols, and must limit themselves to liaising with the Lebanese army units there. But the UN forces have, of their own accord or at their governments’—or Israel’s—repeated requests, defined their own agenda. As for Israel and certain elements in the UN forces, with no connection to the question of who fired the missiles, conclusions must be drawn from this matter to achieve a list of the security aims that Israel has been unable to achieve despite its last war, particularly cleaning up a large swathe in south Lebanon on both banks of the Litani River.
As a result, some elements in the UN forces are now saying that the missile firings by unknown elements out of uninhabited parts of southwest Lebanon make it necessary to switch from the present investigative mode to preemptive action – performing cleanup operations in the entire region, including forcibly entering homes to conduct searches. However, that is not permitted under Resolution 1701 and its appendices. The role of the UN forces is defined only as supporting Lebanese military and security forces to ensure regional stability.
Talks on the matter have been ongoing for some time now, including technical discussions with UN forces, but some Western sources have been advised that it would be difficult to amend the instructions given to the UN forces just on the basis of a few missiles fired from the south. Moreover, some UN officers do not yet understand the red areas—not just red lines—marked around the "resistance" and its weaponry, which, if crossed, can cost more than the UN forces will be able to bear, But is anyone willing to explain these facts to them?