United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701

Hezbollah came into existence in 1985 as a result of the Israeli occupation of South Lebanon which began in 1982 and lasted until 2000.

On 14 August, Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, said on Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV that he is not in favor of Hezbollah's disarmament, since the Lebanese army is not strong enough to defend Lebanon and the Israeli army is still occupying Lebanon, and that his fighters would not be forced to disarm by "intimidation or pressure."[3] Similarly, after adoption of the resolution Lebanese Defence Minister Elias Murr said on 14 August 2006, in a television interview that "the army won't be deployed to south Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah."[4]

Soon after the resolution's passage, both the UN and UNIFIL contributing nations such as France disclaimed responsibility for disarming Hezbollah.[5] Annan asserted that "dismantling Hezbollah is not the direct mandate of the UN," which could only help Lebanon disarm the organization.[6] Annan then said on 25 August 2006, "The understanding was that it would be the Lebanese who would disarm [Hezbollah]" and that "Obviously, if at some stage they need advice or some help from the international community and they were to approach us, we would consider it, but the troops are not going in there to disarm."[7]

Israel, for its part, indicated that if Hezbollah is not disarmed as called for in the Resolution, Israel would continue their efforts.[4] Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev told the Associated Press on 18 August that Israel is keeping its commitments in the UN ceasefire resolution and expects Lebanon to do the same. "That resolution clearly calls for the creation of a Hezbollah-free zone south of the Litani River, and anything less would mean that the resolution is not being implemented," Regev told AP.[8]

Hezbollah agreed to disarm its forces south of the Litani River, but not to pull its forces out of southern Lebanon. "Hezbollah individuals are people who live in the south and they will not leave their homes and villages, but an armed Hezbollah will not be in the south," said Mohamad Chatah on 16 August, a senior adviser to Lebanese Prime Minister Siniora. UN Resolution 1701 prohibits all armed militias from operating anywhere in all of Lebanon ("no weapons or authority in Lebanon other than that of the Lebanese state" and "full implementation of the relevant provisions of the Taif Accords, and of resolutions 1559 and 1680, that require the disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon, so that, pursuant to the Lebanese cabinet decision of 27 July 2006, there will be no weapons or authority in Lebanon other than that of the Lebanese State"), but does not specify whether the militias should disarm or be put under the control of the Lebanese government. United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan met with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who said that the "ball is now in the court of the government of Lebanon" to ensure no armed militias operate in southern Lebanon.[9]

On 21 August, the Turkish newspaper Hürriyet reported that Turkish authorities intercepted five Iranian cargo aircraft and one Syrian aircraft carrying missiles to Hezbollah. The aircraft were forced to land at Diyarbakır Airport in southeastern Turkey. The aircraft were not allowed to take off after US intelligence sources found there were three missile launchers and crates of C-802 missiles on board the planes which were identical to the missile that struck the Israeli Navy Ship "Hanit" during the war. Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz said that Israel would continue to prevent weapons from reaching Hezbollah from Syria and Iran. "I will not allow the situation that happened before the war to return," said Peretz during a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul. He also asked that Turkey send troops to the international force deploying in Lebanon.[10]

In January 2007, Israeli military intelligence chief Maj.-Gen. Amos Yadlin criticized both Hezbollah for rearming and the United Nations for "doing nothing to prevent it or disarm them."[11]

The Lebanese government demanded that Palestinians in refugee camps in the Litani area disarm in accordance with the resolution, senior Fatah operative in Lebanon, Monir Al-Makdah, said on 28 August 2006. Reportedly, Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora "made the request to Fatah representative in Lebanon, Abbas Za'aki. Al-Makdah rejected the demand in an interview with Jordanian newspaper Al-Dostur, saying that the Security Council resolution was illegal since it did not include the right of return for Palestinian refugees."[12]

Lebanon's Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said on 6 August that the draft resolution was "not adequate," and House Speaker Nabih Berri, serving as a diplomatic conduit for Hezbollah, rejected the draft. The draft made no mention of Israeli forces withdrawing from Lebanon. [25]

Lebanon proposed on 7 August that it would send 15,000 troops to its southern border if Israeli troops would leave the country, handing over their positions to the UN Interim Force. The draft UN resolution called for "the immediate cessation by Hezbollah of all attacks and the immediate cessation by Israel of all offensive military operations." A second resolution would later establish an international peacekeeping force that would help Lebanon's army take control of the country's southern border, where Hezbollah had held sway since the Israeli withdrawal in 2000.[26]

The resolution stated that Israeli forces shall withdraw in parallel with the deployment of Lebanese and UNIFIL forces into the southern Lebanon, and established that the Lebanese government should have control over all Lebanese territory, and that "there will be no weapons without the consent of the government of Lebanon and no authority other than that of the government of Lebanon."

On 8 August, several changes were made to the proposal. Lebanon and its Arab League allies pressed the UN to call for an immediate Israeli withdrawal. Such a withdrawal had not been mentioned in the draft resolution; an omission that Lebanon's government and Arab League diplomats called unacceptable. The Lebanese proposal also called for Israel to temporarily give control of Shebaa Farms to the UN.[27]

Dan Gillerman, Israel's Ambassador to the UN, said he had problems with the idea of a UN force being deployed to stabilize the region, and pointed to the UN Interim Force in Lebanon as an example. Israel's Security Cabinet recommended that the Israeli military expand its campaign against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.[28] Diplomats at the UN and in Beirut stepped up efforts to secure a UN resolution.

Despite the expanded ground campaign, the Israeli Security Cabinet was likely to sign off on the UN resolution at its meeting on 13 August, Israel's Ambassador to the US, Daniel Ayalon, said before the Council vote.[29] A final text of the resolution was distributed to the full UN Security Council, which unanimously accepted the resolution.

The resolution demands a full cessation of all hostilities, the release of abducted Israeli soldiers, the deployment of 15,000 international troops to police the Lebanon-Israel border—an increase from the then-current 2,000.[30] The UN troops in the area would be joined by 15,000 Lebanese troops.[31] The deal also calls for the release of two Israeli soldiers whose capture by guerrillas sparked the conflict.[29] Tzipi Livni, Israel's foreign minister, insisted that Israeli troops would remain in southern Lebanon until a multinational UN force is deployed, implying that deployment of Lebanese forces would not be sufficient for Israeli withdrawal.[32]

As of February 2009, many key points in the resolution remained insufficiently addressed. In a special report, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon mentions that "Hezbollah continues to refuse to provide any information on the release or fate of abducted soldiers, and places conditions and demands for the release that are far outside the scope of resolution 1701," Ban wrote in the report.[37] The report also points out that Hezbollah has replenished its stock of rockets and missiles in South Lebanon, and is now in possession of 10,000 long-range rockets and 20,000 short-range projectiles.[37]

The Lebanese government claims that Israel has violated the resolution over 7,000 times "by crossing Lebanese airspace," waters, and border on an almost daily basis since the implementation of the resolution.[38]

In 2009, Israel filed a complaint with the U.N. that Lebanon was not complying with the resolution after a Katyusha rocket was fired from Lebanon and landed next to a house in northern Israel and injured three people. The complaint affirmed Israel's right to defend itself and its citizens.[39] Later in 2009, when weapons that Hezbollah was hiding in a civilian home in a Lebanese town near the border of Israel exploded, both Israel and UNIFIL complained that Resolution 1701 was being violated by Lebanon and Hezbollah. The IDF estimates that the number of civilian homes in southern Lebanon that are being used to store weapons are in the hundreds.[40] Israel also criticized the Lebanese army, which is responsible for enforcing the resolution, for cooperating with Hezbollah in making sure that the evidence of the violation of the resolution had been cleared up before allowing U.N. peace keepers to do their job.[41] Two days later, fifteen Lebanese civilians from Kfar Shuba, carrying Lebanese and Hizbullah flags, crossed into the Israeli occupied Shebaa Farms.[42][43] The IDF took no action to the provocation, but stressed that it was a violation of Resolution 1701. The United Nations confirmed that Hezbollah violated the resolution and that the group is rearming.[44]