The UN peace-keeping mission in southern Lebanon is extended for another six months. Mohalhel Fakih, in Beirut, examines the implications The United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution to extend the mandate of peace-keepers along the volatile Israeli- Lebanese border for another six months, endorsing a report by Secretary-General Kofi Annan who warned against mounting tension between Hizbullah and Israel, and the risk of more border skirmishes. Annan's personal representative in the region also voiced concerns about a recent exchange of threats and counter-threats. On 29 July, UN Resolution 1553 legitimised the mandate of the 2,000-strong United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and reiterated "strong support for the territorial integrity, sovereignty and political independence of Lebanon within its internationally recognised boundaries." The Security Council's decision followed another bout of fighting across the so-called Blue Line, which Israel drew in May 2000 to certify its withdrawal from Lebanon while under fire from Hizbullah, following a 22-year occupation. "It has been a tense and quite difficult period. But the international community has been able to ensure that the incidents which have taken place have not developed into a spiral," UN personal representative of Secretary-General Kofi Annan in southern Lebanon Stefan de Mistura told Al-Ahram Weekly in an exclusive interview. The incidents that he was referring to were last month's hostilities in which Hizbullah commander Ghaleb Awali was killed in a car bomb explosion in Beirut's southern suburbs, followed by the killing of two Israeli soldiers by a Hizbullah sniper at a military outpost along Israel's border, and the killing of a Shia fighter. Hizbullah held Israel responsible for Awali's assassination. Israel later deployed war jets over Lebanon, breaking the sound barrier over Beirut and warned that the conflict could widen. "I think there is a matter of statehood responsibility. And those two countries, who direct, finance and train the Hizbullah organisation, will end up paying the price," Israeli military commander for the northern region General Benny Ganz warned, in an apparent reference to Syria and Iran. Since then, Israeli warplanes and reconnaissance flights have not ceased their breaches of Lebanese airspace, despite repeated UN condemnation. In his last report to the Security Council before it extended the UNIFIL mandate, Annan said that "considerable risk remains that hostile acts will escalate and lead the parties into conflict." He cited violations by Israel and Hizbullah's anti-aircraft fire across the Blue Line. Resolution 1553 expressed concerns over "the serious breaches and the sea, land and continuing air violations of the withdrawal line". The secretary-general's representative in the south told the Weekly that he was concerned about the situation along the border, particularly as the Shebaa Farms are still under Israeli occupation. The UN affirmed in its latest resolution that Israel heeded a previous Security Council call for its troops to leave Lebanon, and argues that the Shebaa Farms is Israeli-occupied Syrian land, while Damascus and Beirut insist the region belongs to Lebanon and Hizbullah's occasional operations there are legitimate. De Mistura said both sides appear not to favour an escalation, particularly as the regional situation is so tense. "The regional situation does not allow the Blue Line to go through a series of incidents like the ones we have seen too frequently and so intensely. However, I am also reassured by the fact that all the incidents have been able to be confined so far, and did not reach the level of a spiral, that shows I hope that neither side finds it appropriate to go beyond a certain point," the UN official said. The UN has been calling on Lebanon to deploy troops all over south Lebanon up to the Israeli border. Although Beirut has sent army troops to the former occupied zone, they have not been deployed all the way to the Blue Line. The Lebanese government cites the absence of peace as a reason for staying out of the area. Instead, Hizbullah fighters keep a close watch on the Lebanese side of the border, only metres away from Israeli forces. Such close proximity is surely a recipe for bloodshed. "The mere presence, active patrolling, constant visual day and night presence along the Blue Line and the accurate and objective reporting is a way in which UNIFIL -- without being seen openly doing peace- keeping -- is in fact observing and facilitating peace and stability in the area," the UN chief's representative said. UNIFIL, which was first deployed in 1978 following an Israeli incursion into Lebanon, is "restoring international peace and security," according to Resolution 1553. It highlighted the need to achieve a "comprehensive, just and lasting" peace in the Middle East based on UN resolutions. But that could prove difficult, given the recent Israeli allegations that Hizbullah possesses Iranian and Syrian-made rockets capable of striking Tel Aviv. Recently, Hizbullah has also accused Israel of sending operatives to Lebanon to target the group, especially after Awali was assassinated. "The one responsible is the Zionist enemy... Israeli hands which we will cut off, God willing, and hands of their agents on the inside which we will also cut off, God willing," Hizbullah's Secretary- General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said. Despite the red-hot rhetoric, the top UN official in south Lebanon cites progress on the ground. According to De Mistura, there is a "huge difference in terms of tension and casualties in a positive way, after the Blue Line was drawn" about four years ago. Resolution 1553 hailed UNIFIL for efforts to maintain the ceasefire. The Security Council's resolution, Kofi Annan's representative stressed, reflected the UN's recognition of "the usefulness and need of this role to be performed by UNIFIL".
