UN peacekeeping chief French Major General Alain Pelligrini on how UNIFIL may deal with Hizbullah terrorists on the way to attack, or even in the midst of attacking, Israel:
Contrary to Israeli hopes that the new multinational force in Lebanon will engage and disarm Hizbullah, the beefed up UNIFIL will not immediately open fire on Hizbullah guerrillas if they are on their way to an attack or even in the midst of an attack on Israel, the commander of the UN peacekeeping force, Maj.-Gen. Alain Pellegrini, told The Jerusalem Post Thursday in an exclusive interview.
While the new rules of engagement set by the UN allowed the new UNIFIL force to open fire in order to implement resolution 1701, Pellegrini said he would not automatically order his troops to open fire on Hizbullah guerrillas if they were spotted on their way to the Blue Line to attack Israel. The job of the new multinational force, he said, was to assist the Lebanese army and not to disarm or engage Hizbullah or even to prevent its attacks.
According to UN Security Council resolution 1701, UNIFIL was in Lebanon to “assist the Lebanese army,” Pellegrini said, and “to inform them and advise them how they can do their job.”
“We first will observe and then inform the Lebanese army,” he said. “If we see something dangerous we will inform the Lebanese army and it will decide whether it will act independently or consider having a joint reaction together with us.”
UN peacekeeping chief French Major General Alain Pelligrini on how UNIFIL may deal with IAF flights over Lebanon:
UN peacekeeping chief in Lebanon French Major General Alain Pelligrini said on Thursday that should diplomatic efforts fail to stop Israeli flights over Lebanon, force might be considered in the future.
His comments came as the son of slain former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri urged French President Jacques Chirac on Thursday to help stop the Israel Air Force’s overflights.
Pellegrini calledd the overflights “violations [of UN resolution 1701] because you have a foreign jet crossing first the Blue Line and entering the national Lebanese airspace.”
“If the diplomatic means should not be enough, maybe it could be considered other ways, we never know,” he added.
When asked if that meant in the future UN troops might consider preventing the overflights by force, Pellegrini replied, “it could be. It could be.”“l think that it could be considered, and it will depend on new rules of engagement drafted and decided [at UN headquarters],” he said.
Let’s make it simple:
| Action | Possible UNIFIL Response |
| Hizbullah attack Israel | Observe…and then inform Lebanese army |
| IAF planes fly over Lebanon | Shoot down planes |
And they wonder why we hate the UN, not to mention the French.
