As the United Nations brass recklessly endangers the lives of its peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, the blue-helmeted troops are turning into a shield for Hezbollah. 

Several European countries have condemned Israel after the UN Interim Force in Lebanon reported that two of its soldiers were lightly injured Thursday by Israeli tank fire. On Friday, Unifil further complained of two injuries in southern Lebanon, adding that a wall of one of its observation posts was damaged by an Israeli bulldozer. 

The French foreign ministry summoned the Israeli ambassador at Paris for a reprimand over the incidents. The Italian defense minister, Guido Crosetto, said the incidents were “not a mistake,” adding that they could “constitute war crimes.” Italy and France contribute troops to Unifil. 

“We understand Israel is conducting targeted operations near the Blue Line to destroy Hezbollah infrastructure,” the National Security Council spokesman, John Kirby, told reporters, adding, though, that it is “critical that they not threaten UN peacekeepers’ safety and security.”

Last week the Israel Defense Force crossed the Lebanese border as part of a mission to ensure the safe return of tens of thousands of northern Israelis who have been evacuated from their homes. It advised Unifil to evacuate observation posts where it was planning to operate against Hezbollah. 

President Higgins of Ireland, which contributes 70 peacekeepers to Unifil, accused the IDF of levying “outrageous” threats. The Unifil spokesman, Andrea Tenenti, said however that the Israelis “asked us to move from certain positions,” adding, “We have not received threats.”

Either way, Unifil declined to abandon its posts in southern Lebanon. “We are there because the Security Council has asked us to be there, so we are staying until the situation becomes impossible for us to operate,” Mr. Tenenti said.

“The peacekeepers are currently staying in all the positions,” the UN undersecretary general for peacekeeping, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, told the Sun last week. A UN spokesman, Farhan haq, confirmed Friday that Unifil remains in its positions. 

Isn’t it risky? The decision was made “after thorough consideration of all the elements, including safety and security of our peacekeepers, but also the responsibility we have in regard to the mandate and the population,” Mr. Lecroix said. The “parties should not put peacekeepers at risk.”

He did not specify which of these parties is endangering the blue-helmeted troops. In one of the seminal events of the 2006 Hezbollah-Israel war, four UN peacekeepers were killed in Lebanon. Secretary-General Annan accused Israel of “deliberately” killing them.

Yet, in an email sent by one of the peacekeepers prior to his death, he reported being forsaken in a combat zone. Two UN peacekeepers were stationed next to a Hezbollah fortification with no means to defend themselves, as mortars were flying all around them, he wrote. Each time the UN men tried to separate themselves from Hezbollah, the group relocated next to them.   

Similarly, while visiting the northern Israeli border two years ago, a Sun reporter could clearly see a yellow Hezbollah flag on a fortification right next to a Unifil observation post. Two armed men in civilian clothes were clearly visible nearby. 

“Such UN posts are used for protection by fake environmental organizations, which are in fact Hezbollah fronts,” the founder of Alma Research Center, Sarit Zehavi, said at the time. 

Resolution 1701 of the UN Security Council, which founded the renewed UN force in Lebanon, was enacted in the aftermath of the 2006 war. A beefed-up Unifil was charged with ensuring, alongside the Lebanese army, the “disarmament of armed groups including Hezbollah” in its area of operation. 

The resolution mandated “no armed forces other than Unifil and Lebanese military south of the Litani River,” which is 18 miles north of Lebanon’s border with Israel. 

More than 18 years later, Hezbollah is more entrenched in the areas near the Israeli border than it had been before the 2006 war. Southern Lebanon is dominated by Shiites, many of whom belong to and support the Iranian-backed terror organization. 

Last week the IDF discovered and destroyed a deeply dug Hezbollah tunnel, designed to reach northern Israel — possibly for an assault akin to Hamas’s October 7 atrocities. Similar tunnels were discovered and blocked two years ago. Just as Unifil was unable to disarm Hezbollah, it never noticed such attack tunnels being dug under its nose. 

Israelis of all stripes now say that once the war is over, they can no longer rely on an ineffective international force under UN auspices. Since 2006 Unifil has dutifully filed reports it describes as “balanced,” but failed to help secure the border. 

Unifil now faults the IDF for forcefully demilitarizing southern Lebanon, which is what the UN force was mandated to do under Security Council resolution 1701, but failed. 

“We are fulfilling our obligations to ensure” that resolutions are adhered to, Israel’s UN ambassador, Danny Danon, told members of the Security Council on Thursday. “The council must support us in our efforts.”