Since the war in Lebanon in 2006, clashes between Israel and Hezbollah are common in South Lebanon. However, since October 2024, these clashes have escalated to the intensity of an armed conflict with an increased number of civilians killed in Israel and Lebanon. On 9 October 2024, the Ministry of Health of Lebanon reported that Israeli attacks in Lebanon had killed at least 2,141 people, including 127 children. According to Amnesty International, Hezbollah has also launched thousands of rockets and missiles at towns in northern Israel, killing at least 16 civilians.
A new aspect of the current armed conflict in Lebanon is that the armed forces of Israel have carried out repeated attacks in southwest Lebanon against the United Nations peacekeeping force - the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). This UN peacekeeping operation has currently more than 10,000 troops from 50 countries. A UNIFIL press statement of the 10th of October 2024 indicates that “UNIFIL’s Naqoura headquarters and nearby positions have been repeatedly hit”, “two peacekeepers were injured after an IDF Merkava tank fired its weapon toward an observation tower at UNIFIL’s headquarters in Naqoura, directly hitting it and causing them to fall”. Moreover, the press statement also indicates that “IDF soldiers also fired on UN position (UNP) 1-31 in Labbouneh, hitting the entrance to the bunker where peacekeepers were sheltering, and damaging vehicles and a communications system” and “IDF soldiers deliberately fired at and disabled the position’s perimeter-monitoring cameras and [t]hey also deliberately fired on UNP 1-32A in Ras Naqoura, where regular Tripartite meetings were held before the conflict began, damaging lighting and a relay station”. On the 11th and 12th of October 2024, UNIFIL released two other press statements indicating injuries to peacekeepers due to ongoing nearby military activities.
Before these attacks, the Israeli army asked UNIFIL to move away from the border between Israel and Lebanon, - known as the Blue Line – and to relocate more than 5 kilometers away “as soon as possible, in order to maintain [the] safety” of FINUL. To this request, on the 3rd of October 2024, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, however, indicated that UNIFIL would not evacuate its personnel and the “the Blue Helmets are currently remaining in their position” in the South of Lebanon. On the 7th of October 2024, the spokesperson of UNIFIL has also expressed concerns about the ability of UN peacekeepers to carry out their humanitarian work in the South of Lebanon, observing that thousands of people living in UNIFIL's area of operation in Lebanon were "stranded in villages, without food or water”, and requested that a humanitarian convoy be urgently allowed to reach them. The Director of the Middle East and North Africa Division of Human Rights Watch, Lama Fakih, also declared that UNIFIL plays a crucial role in protecting civilians and assist the humanitarian organizations in bringing assistance to the civilians. According to Human Rights Watch, the attacks against UNIFIL are hampering not only its peacekeeping work, but also the possibility of civilians in the South of Lebanon to access much-needed humanitarian assistance.
The next two sections briefly explore the mandate of UNIFIL according to the UN Security Council Resolutions and the obligations under International Humanitarian Law protecting peacekeeping missions.
The mandate of UNIFIL under UN Security Council Resolutions
The UNIFIL is a peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon, established by the UN Security Council in 1978 (resolutions 425 and 426). After the July-August 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel, the UN Security Council expanded UNIFIL’s mandate. According to the resolution 1701 of 2006 UNIFIL is mandated: 1) to monitor the cessation of hostilities ; 2) to accompany and support the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) as they deploy throughout the South of Lebanon, and 3) to help in ensuring humanitarian access to civilian populations and the voluntary and safe return of displaced persons (para.11).
The UNSC Resolutions
2650
and 2591
adopted respectively in 2022 and 2021 confirmed and clarified UNIFIL's mandate
under resolution 1701 of 2006. In particular, these resolutions confirm the
UNIFIL freedom of movement, its support to the LAF to deploy its forces in the South of Lebanon and the role of UNIFIL in providing assistance to the civilians. Although
some changes in the language of resolutions 1701, 2650 and 2591, the mandate of
UNIFIL remain the same under the three resolutions. The UNSC resolutions point
out that UNIFIL has the right and duty “to take all necessary action in areas
of deployment of its forces and as it deems within its capabilities” with the
objectives “to protect United Nations personnel, facilities, installations and
equipment”, “to ensure the security and freedom of movement of United Nations
personnel, humanitarian workers” and “to protect civilians under imminent
threat of physical violence” (UNSC resolution 1701, par.12; UNSC resolution
2591, 2021, par. 21; UNSC resolution 2650, 2022, par.23).
The various resolutions adopted by the UN
Security Council clearly establish that UNIFIL has the mandate to ensure stability in the area, to protect
the civilian population, and to support Israel and Lebanon to achieving a
permanent ceasefire. The current armed conflict between Israel
and Hezbollah put at risk the adjectives of the mandate of UNIFIL. A legitimate
question is whether the UNIFIL may make resort to the use of force to protect
itself against repeated attacks and to what extent the peacekeeping operations
may use the force to protect the civilians. The website of UNIFIL explains that:
“In
carrying their mandate, UNIFIL personnel may exercise their inherent right of
self-defence. In addition to the use of force beyond self-defence, and without
prejudice of the primary responsibility of the Government of Lebanon, UNIFIL
may under certain circumstances and conditions resort to the proportionate and
gradual use of force to ensure that its area of operations is not utilized for
hostile activities; to resist attempts by forceful means to prevent UNIFIL from
discharging its duties under the mandate authorized by the Security Council; to
protect UN personnel, facilities, installations and equipment; to ensure the
security and freedom of movement of UN personnel and humanitarian workers; and
to protect civilians under imminent threat of physical violence”.
The question of a revision of the mandate of
the UNIFIL has recently been raised in some media reports in order to make its presence in the
South of Lebanon more effective.
The role of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) in protecting UN peacekeepers
International Humanitarian Law provides protection to UN peacekeepers. Rule 33 of Customary IHL explicitly provides that:
“Directing an attack against personnel and objects involved in a peacekeeping mission in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, as long as they are entitled to the protection given to civilians and civilian objects under international humanitarian law, is prohibited”.
UN personnel involved in peacekeeping operations, including UNIFIL peacekeepers, are considered civilians under IHL and are entitled to the same protections as those granted to civilians. Customary IHL requires that parties to an armed conflict must take “all feasible precautions” to avoid, or in any event, to minimize loss of civilian life and damage to civilian property (Rule 15).
These precautions include the obligation to verify that the targets of attack are military objectives and not civilians or civilian objects, to give " effective advance warning" when circumstances permit, and to refrain from attacks that violate the principle of proportionality, according to which civilian casualties or damage to civilians must not be “excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated”. Civilians, including peacekeepers, who do not evacuate after receiving a warning remain fully protected by IHL (see the EJIL talk post here on evacuations).
Parties to the armed conflict in Lebanon have obligations to ensure the safety and security of UN personnel and premises, including avoiding combat activities near UNIFIL positions and ensure that peacekeepers are not injured.
Under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), “intentionally directing attacks against personnel, installations, equipment, units or vehicles employed in the course of a security mission humanitarian or peacekeeping assistance in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations” constitutes a war crime in international and non-international armed conflicts (Art. 8.2 (b) (iii) and (e) (iii)).
In April 2024, the Council of Ministers of Lebanon requested the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to file a declaration with the Registrar of the International Criminal Court (ICC), recognizing the jurisdiction of the Court over crimes committed on Lebanese territory since 7 October 2023. However, at the end of May 2024, the government reversed this decision. Such a declaration recognizing the jurisdiction of the ICC would have given to the ICC Prosecutor a mandate to investigate war crimes committed in Lebanon.
Final remarks
The governments
of France, Spain and Italy have made a joint
declaration condemning the attacks against the UNIFIL and
noted that these attacks constitute a serious violation of Israel's obligations
under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 and International Humanitarian
Law. The three governments have also indicated that the attacks are not
justified under IHL and must stop immediately. Any
deliberate attack on peacekeepers is a grave violation of international
humanitarian law and Security Council resolutions 1701 (2006), 2591 (2021) and
2650 (2022). In the perspective of a de-scalation of the armed conflict in the
Middle East, the UNIFIL could play a role in bringing a
drop of hope in ending the hostilities in the South of Lebanon.
Photo Pasqual GORRIZ/ONU
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