By Tomas Sandell
As the Jewish state is preparing for a coordinated terror attack from Iran and its proxies, the key for preventing an escalation of the current conflict is in the hands of the international community and especially the United Nations. It is now time for the UN to live up to its commitments in its own charter and free Lebanon from the grip of terrorist organisation Hezbollah which threatens to drag the country into a catastrophic war. Hezbollah’s presence in Lebanon, its expansion of personnel and weapons, and its continued attacks on Israel, all violates UN Security Council Resolution 1701 as well as the prohibition of acts of aggression covered by Article 2(4) of the UN Charter.
The Republic of Lebanon, with its unique multicultural mosaic, was for many years considered a jewel of the Middle East, until Syria, and later Iran turned the country in to a vassal state controlled by its local proxy, terrorist organization Hezbollah.
Although Lebanon is bound by UN Security Council Resolution 1701 which calls for the disarmament of all armed militia groups, including Hezbollah and a withdrawal of their troops north of the Litani River, the United Nations keeps turning a blind eye to the failure of the Lebanese government to implement the resolution. Instead of disarming itself, Hezbollah has done the exact opposite by building up an arsenal of some 150,000 mortars, rockets and precision guided missiles with a reach deep into Israel.
Since the Hamas terror attack on October 7, Hezbollah has fired thousands of rockets into Israel, forcing the Israeli government to evacuate its civilian population from the north to safety elsewhere in Israel where the displaced communities from the Gaza border area are also living in temporary facilities. This situation is unsustainable and would not be tolerated by any other country. Still the pressure from the international community to de-escalate is on Israel.
Nevertheless, a de-escalation from both sides is needed to prevent a full-blown war which could mean the beginning of the end of modern Lebanon as we know it. This message was also implied by the UN Secretary-General António Guterres when he on June 21 called for a ceasefire on the Israeli Lebanese border “to prevent a catastrophe beyond imagination.”
The agreed path to de-escalation and ceasefire is for Hezbollah to fulfill its obligation under UN Security Council resolution 1701 and immediately withdraw from the Israeli border to the north of the Litani River in respect for “the full sovereignty and territorial integrity of Lebanon,” as agreed in UN Security Council resolution 1595, which was adopted unanimously on 7 April 2005.
Furthermore, Israel’s elimination of a renowned terrorist leader Fuad Shukr who is personally responsible for multiple terrorist attacks, including the Beirut barracks bombings in 1983 which killed 241 US and 58 French military personnel, does not require or entitle a retaliation of any kind.
As the Middle East is on the brink of an all-out major war, the international community, including the United Nations and the European Union, must play a more active role in order to prevent Hezbollah and other Iranian terrorist proxies from dragging the whole region into what the UN Secretary-General has rightly called “a catastrophic war beyond imagination.”
Tomas Sandell is the Founding Director of European Coalition for Israel.
This column was originally published in The Times of Israel.