Lebanon Says No to an International Force

[bemildred]

It's been noticeable that Lahoud seems to have found a spine somewhere lately. You have to wonder what is up with that.

(IsraelNN.com) Lebanese President Emil Lahoud has rejected the possibility of deploying an international peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon. In an interview with the Arabic al-Jazeera satellite news station, the president stated he will only rely on a UN force.

“It is preferable to increase the UNIFIL force rather than deploying French or other soldiers,” Lahoud told al-Jazeera.

Arutz Sheva

[kenny blankenship]

1. Can you blame him, having seen what "coalition of the willing" means?

[bemildred]

2. I have always thought that Hizbullah would fight rather than accept these

rather transparent ploys to get someone else to try to disarm them, and it's been clear that nobody is dumb enough to be very interested in the job. What is interesting here is that Lahoud has been pushed into Hizbullah's camp and that he is not afraid to speak up. Lebanon is, for the moment, unified.

[kenny blankenship]

3. Oh I'm sure that if US led or US allied forces enter Lebanon to disarm

Hezbollah they will have years Iraq-style ambushes and carbombs bleeding their forces daily.

[newyorican]

4. It's obvious...

that this whole "International force" idea is a plan to fail and beyond that, it looks like a stalling tactic which gives the Israeli military more time to "degrade Hezbolla".

I shudder at what the blow-back for this misadventure will be.

[Igel]

5. Lahoud's spine is local.

Look at the destruction that's been wrought on the Shi'ite portions of Lebanon. Look at the death toll, both civilian and military.

And remember that Lahoud and Siniora have been more afraid of civil war with Hezbollah than of Israel's. Nothing shows that this is not still true.

Then factor in Arabism, and the fact that he is a Lebanese politician, answerable both to his constituency and to Hezbollah.

Truly, he's a fighter. As in the Russian proverb:

Protiv ovets, boyets;
Protiv boytsa, sam ovtsa.

Against sheep, a fighter;
Against a fighter, himself a sheep.

(And just for added linguistic irritation, ovtsa is PIE *ow-ikos, *ow- has the English reflex "ewe".)

[bemildred]

7. I notice Aoun is making alarmed noises now, too.

"History will judge us". Coming from him that is a remarkably funny comment.

[newyorican]

6. Taskforce Bolton...

...is a DOA non-starter.

As proposed the force will simply continue doing the work for the Israeli military (likely with Israeli intel and military coordination).