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Israel envoy hails ‘victory’ as UN expands Lebanon peacekeeping role
[IsraelTimes] UNIFIL given widened powers after US and Israeli called for it to do more to tackle Hezbollah arms buildup

The United Nations
...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense...
 extended the mandate of its peacekeeping mission in southern Leb Wednesday night, and gave its forces widened powers to address Hezbollah’s weapons buildup in the area.

As a result of the changes, which were approved by the UN Security Council, UNIFIL will increase its oversight activities in southern Leb, including by entering villages where the Hezbollah terror group operates.

The resolution highlights that UNIFIL has the authority to "take all necessary actions" in areas where its forces are deployed and must ensure that its area of operations is "not utilized for hostile activities of any kind."

Israel’s ambassador to the UN Danny Danon welcomed the decision, saying in a statement that "the resolution requires UNIFIL to open its eyes, and forces it to act against Hezbollah’s terror buildup in the area."

He described the resolution as "a victory for Israel."

The resolution came following complaints from Israel over the international body’s failure prevent Hezbollah from gaining strength.

La Belle France, a key player on the Security Council, argued that UNIFIL had succeeded in maintaining calm in south Leb, but the United States pushed for action by the mission against Hezbollah, which it accuses of stockpiling weapons and readying for war.
Thank you, President Trump. It is such a pleasure to be able to write that sincerely instead of with bitter sarcasm.
"Conditions in south Leb are very dangerous today. The clouds of war are gathering," US Ambassador Nikki Haley
...first woman to serve as Governor of South Carolina, and the second Indian-American governor in the country, after Bobby Jindal of Louisiana. At the age of 39, Haley is the youngest current governor in the U.S., a distinction formerly held by Jindal. She is a Republican, which really grates on the Dems...
 told the council after the vote. "UNIFIL exists to help prevent war from happening again and it is supposed to do that."

The resolution also requests that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres look at ways to increase UNIFIL’s visible presence, through patrols and inspections, but within its existing mandate.

"UNIFIL can, of course, do better and do more," said French Deputy Ambassador Anne Gueguen, but she stressed that the force was indeed keeping the peace. "No one in this council can imagine for one second the environment that would exist there without UNIFIL."

Rejecting the demands from the US and Israel for UNIFIL’s mission to be expanded, Leb had called for the peacekeeping force’s mandate to be renewed without changes.

Responding to the Wednesday vote, indeed, the Lebanese mission to the UN tweeted that the mandate had been extended "without changing."
For a given definition of unchanged, at any rate.
Set up in 1978, UNIFIL was beefed up after the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, tasked with guaranteeing a ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal from a demilitarized zone on the Israeli-Lebanese border.

It now has 10,500 troops on the ground monitoring the ceasefire and helping the Lebanese government secure its borders.
Posted by: trailing wife 2017-08-31
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=496291