The United Nations informed Spain that UNIFIL “continues to be useful in carrying out the interposition mandate.” And despite the escalation of the war in the region, where Israel is already attacking three fronts (Gaza, Lebanon and the start of what could be a “total war” with Iran), the government of Pedro Sanchez.
Since the end of the 2006 war, the last time Israel entered Lebanese territory in an attempt to put an end to Hezbollah, 18 years have passed. All this time, Spain maintained around 670 soldiers as peacekeepers of “interposition”, in what constitutes its largest military mission abroad. Today, despite the escalation of the war, with direct fighting on Lebanese soil, the Spanish government and the United Nations (UNIFIL) agree that “the mission always has meaning”.
This is indicated by official sources from the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Jose Manuel Albares He met last Monday with the United Nations deputy secretary general in charge of the mission in Lebanon, Jean-Pierre Lacroix. “We are on the verge, if not at the beginning, of a total war in the region“, Albares said in a radio interview. “So it must be avoided at all costs.”
Explosions in the border region between Israel and Lebanon, resulting from fighting between the Israeli army and Hezbollah terrorists.
Although the head of Defense, Marguerite Roblesannounced this Wednesday the sending of two Air Force planes to evacuate 350 Spanish civilians from Lebanon, his colleague from the Council of Ministers maintains that “the sole use of force never guarantees the total security of anyone” , this is why he advocates diplomacy, negotiation and “mutual recognition” between Israel and Arab countries.
But the truth is that this time has passedat least for the moment, on the scene of war operations. And the Spanish troops have been sheltered in the barracks for days and even, sheltered in their bunkersbefore the exchange of missiles and rockets on both sides of the border.
Last Tuesday, at dawn, the Israeli Defense Forces launched a “limited” invasion of Lebanese territory. According to official sources from the Jerusalem high command, it would be “entry and exit operations” to attack Hezbollah outposts, supply routes and missile batteries in the southern region of Lebanon. This involves “pushing back 30 km towards the north” the area which is supposed to cushions the UN, to make Hezbollah attacks impossible and then destroy it.
“Useless peacekeepers”
Since then, according to an Israeli lieutenant-colonel present on the ground, “the presence of the 10,000 soldiers that the UN maintains to avoid “open war in the region”.
Moreover, this reserve soldier who heads the self-defense command of his region, just five kilometers from the border, warns against “unnecessary” risk that Spanish peacekeepers are forced to incur under the mandate of the United Nations.
“UNIFIL troops in southern Lebanon are useless,” he explains. And he adds that if the UN resolution placed them on Lebanese soil after the 2006 war, “it was to would control Hezbollah, which they did not do“. And according to him, now that his government has decided to put an end to Shiite terrorists, “all this shows that we alone have the responsibility to defend our land“.
Almost a year has passed since 7-O, the the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. This Saturday morning, thousands of Hamas terrorists and Gaza civilians They entered southern Israel to torture and murder some 1,400 men, women and childrenin addition to kidnap 243 other Israelis.
Coordinated “agents”
Since then, “every day”Hezbollah launched missiles and rockets in the north of the land of the Jews.
Therefore, the government of Benjamin Netanyahu promoted the evacuation of more than 80,000 people in the northern region of Israel. In recent months, some of them have returned home and the number of displaced people has been reduced to around 60,000. But the military ground campaign has once again caused the stampede: The State offers housing in the center of the country to those who request it.
In a strategy coordinated with the Houthis of Yemen, which launched a campaign of harassment, bombardment and piracy of Israeli or Israeli-linked vessels in the Gulf of Aden, the three “proxy” groups from Iran participated in the strategy to “destroy the Zionist entity”as the State of Israel calls it by the regime of the ayatollahs.
Last week, two new events occurred: Tehran’s massive attack on urban buildings and civilian facilities, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, on the one hand. And on the other, the start of the aforementioned Israeli ground incursions into Lebanon. For the Spanish government, the two circumstances are “equally reprehensible”and this is what Minister Albares publicly expressed.
The Spanish government insists on its commitment to the mission, which is under the command of the Spanish general Aroldo Lazaro since February 2022. “The United Nations system is being questioned in the region,” says a Foreign Affairs source, in reference to the escalation of the war and the designation of Antonio Guterressecretary general of the UN, persona non grata by Israel.
Lebanon’s Ambassador to the UN, Hadi Hachem, addresses the Security Council this Wednesday during an emergency meeting.
This Wednesday, the Security Council meets urgently at the request of the Lebanese Government, without progress.
For his part, President Sánchez spoke by telephone with the Lebanese Prime Minister, Najib Mikati. During the interview, the head of the Executive promised to maintain the humanitarian aid effort and his support for the defense of the “territorial integrity” of his country.
United Nations sources confirm to this newspaper that The option of withdrawing the interposition forces was not even mentionedand that “the decision is firm”, at least for the moment. Regardless, any country among the 50 contributors to UNIFIL could order the evacuation of its troops, executive sources confirm, but Spain will respect what is decided at the UNwhile maintaining constant contact with the governments of the other countries concerned.
