UN fails to take action against Hezbollah terror tunnels

The United Nations failed to take action during a special Security Council session Wednesday against cross-border attack tunnels that Israel says were dug by Lebanon’s Hezbollah terror group.

Ahead of the meeting, Israel had urged the council to condemn the Iran-backed Hezbollah and designate it a terrorist organization.

Though the council took no action on the Israeli request, several members sided with Israel and expressed concerns over Hezbollah’s violation of a UN Security Council resolution that ended a 2006 war between the bitter enemies.

Sweden said Hezbollah’s military capabilities pose a “clear risk” to regional stability. The Netherlands strongly condemned the tunnel activities as a “flagrant violation” of Israeli sovereignty and international law.

Israel has previously urged the UN’s most powerful body to condemn Hezbollah, but has never succeeded because of divisions in the council, and there was no move Wednesday to circulate a draft resolution on the tunnels. A key reason for the lack of council action is that some members would insist that alleged Israeli violations of the 2006 resolution also be included in a resolution.

Israeli soldiers stand around the opening of a hole that leads to a tunnel that the army says was dug by the Hezbollah terror group across the Israel-Lebanon border, near Metula, on December 19, 2018. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

Early this month, Israel announced the discovery of what it said was a network of cross-border Hezbollah attack tunnels and launched an open-ended military operation to destroy them. It so far has exposed four tunnels that it says were to be used to infiltrate and attack Israeli towns and abduct Israeli civilians.

The UN’s peacekeeping chief, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, said UNIFIL had confirmed four tunnels, including two that cross the frontier into Israel.

United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) military police cars drive past a concrete separation barrier between the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila and Israel on the border between the two countries on December 4, 2018 (Ali Dia/AFP)

Calling them a “serious violation” of the 2006 ceasefire resolution, Lacroix said UNIFIL is “acting judiciously” to complete its investigation and to work with both sides to disable all tunnels that cross the border.

“This is a matter of serious concern,” he said.

Lebanon’s ambassador, Amal Mudallali, said her country took the matter seriously and remains committed to the cease-fire resolution.

“This commitment is not rhetoric, and these are not mere words, because this commitment is in the interest of my country and my people,” she said, adding that the Lebanese army is “deployed heavily” in the south to make sure the cease-fire is honored.

But she also accused Israel of repeatedly violating the resolution by having its air force routinely fly through Lebanese skies.

“If we were to call for a Security Council meeting every time Israel had violated Lebanon’s sovereignty since 2006, you will be in a 24/7 shift to address them,” she said.

Russia’s deputy UN ambassador, Vladimir Safronkov, stressed Moscow’s “historically friendly relations” with Israel and Lebanon in his speech to the council. Like many other council members, he called for calm and dialogue as well as an end to “emotional polemics.”

Safronkov said Russia takes note of UNIFIL’s preliminary conclusion on the violation of the 2006 resolution over the tunnels. But he quickly referred to Israeli violations as well.

Russia’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Vladimir Safronkov speaks during a Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, on December 18, 2017, at UN headquarters in New York. (AFP Photo/Kena Betancur)

“We see that all violations of the provisions in this Security Council resolution should cease, from either side — all violations,” Safronkov said. “We cannot have a selective approach to implementation of the resolution.”

He said Israel has a right to prevent illegal incursions into its territory but expressed hope its activities “will not go against the grain” of the 2006 resolution.

Alongside Hezbollah and Iran, Russia is fighting on behalf of Syria’s President Bashar Assad in the Syrian civil war.

Hezbollah, a powerful terror group that acts independently in Lebanon, has yet to comment on the Israeli discovery.

Ahead of Wednesday’s debate, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged the council to condemn Hezbollah.

“This is not merely an act of aggression. This is an act of war,” Netanyahu said. “The people of Lebanon have to understand that Hezbollah is putting them in jeopardy and we expect Lebanon to take action against this.”

At the United Nations, Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon showed an aerial photograph of what Israel called a “private compound” near the border that concealed a tunnel. He also presented an aerial photo showing what he said were weapons-storage sites concealed in a border village.

He said Israel had given the UN peacekeeping mission, known as UNIFIL, “precise information” about the tunnels that was shared with the Lebanese army. He accused the Lebanese army of then relaying the information to Hezbollah, allowing it to try to conceal the tunnels.

“Lebanese army officials are working for Hezbollah, while UNIFIL is not working to fulfill its mandate in the region in the necessary manner,” Danon said.

Israeli envoy Danny Danon showing a map of Lebanese town Kafr Kila with what Israel says are Hezbollah positions. (Israeli mission to the UN)

Israel has long called for a crackdown on the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, a heavily armed mini-army that is believed to possess an arsenal of some 150,000 rockets that can reach nearly all of Israel.

In recent years, Hezbollah has been bogged down in fighting in Syria. But with that civil war winding down, Israeli security officials fear Hezbollah is refocusing its attention on Israel.

Though it appeared the Lebanese army was unaware of the Hezbollah tunnels, Netanyahu said, they know about it now and must neutralize them for their own country’s sake. Israel holds the Lebanese government responsible for the actions of Hezbollah.

“The fact that the Lebanese army is doing nothing means that they are either unable or unwilling or both to do anything about this. But it doesn’t absolve Lebanon’s culpability,” he said. “My message is: Hezbollah is putting you in great jeopardy.”

Israeli soldiers gather near digging equipment used to locate Hezbollah attack tunnels along the border with Lebanon, near the northern Israeli town of Metula on December 19, 2018. (Jack Guez/AFP)

Israel also accuses Hezbollah of using private homes to store weapons or other military activity. Netanyahu called these actions a “double war crime” since it threatened to harm Israeli civilians and put Lebanese civilians in danger as well.

On Wednesday, the Israeli military escorted reporters along the Israel-Lebanon border to the site of one of the tunnels found in recent weeks near the town of Metulla. Heavy mist and rain nearly obscured the Lebanese villas perched on the mountains overlooking Israeli army bulldozers and tractors trundling through the mud.

Hezbollah, Lebanese and Palestinian flags fluttered on the opposite side of the border as Israeli soldiers lowered cameras 26 meters (85 feet) into the mouth of a rock-hewn tunnel they said was the first exposed in “Operation Northern Shield” emanating from the Lebanese village of Kafr Kela just a few hundred meters (yards) away.