Lebanon Is Not Serious About Disarming Hezbollah
(MENAFN- Asia Times)
Lebanon is not serious about enforcing the UNSC resolution 1701 mechanism agreement that it signed with Israel on November 27 and that ended 14 months of war.
Before the ceasefire, the Lebanese armed forces (LAF) watched Hezbollah hollow out 1701. The military justified its idleness by blaming the executive power for not issuing orders. After Lebanon's caretaker cabinet endorsed the deal, LAF continued to drag its feet, for no obvious reason other than the Political ambitions of its chief, presidential hopeful Joseph Aoun.
US Envoy Amos Hochstein is scheduled to visit Beirut on Monday to discuss Lebanese failure in meeting deadlines set by the ceasefire's timetable.
Hezbollah now seems to have a new tactic. Instead of boasting about its capabilities in warring with Israel, the Iran-backed militia has instructed caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati to pretend that Lebanon has lived up to its part of the deal, and that it is now incumbent on the Jewish state to stop its“violations” and accelerate its withdrawal from Lebanese territory.
What Mikati called violations were in fact Israel enforcing 1701 by striking Hezbollah's rearmament shipments, an arrangement that Lebanon had signed on to. The deal also stipulated that the Israeli military would control up to five miles of Lebanese territory as long as Hezbollah maintains its ability to reconstitute. Israel promised to return the no-man's land when the LAF has disarmed Hezbollah and neutralized its threat.
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