As Israel pushes past the Litani, Lebanese question the purpose of UNIFIL

Israel has pushed past the Litani River, with the UNFIL peacekeeping force helpless in preventing an invasion.

Beirut, Lebanon – The mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) ends on December 31, 2026, bringing to an end its 48-year peacekeeping role.

This week, Israel advanced deeper into Lebanese territory than at any point since it ended a nearly two-decade occupation of the country’s south in 2000. The UN body’s inability to prevent the invasion has led to questions about UNIFIL’s mandate and its effectiveness in keeping the peace.

UNIFIL has been attacked by both Israeli and Lebanese actors for various perceived failures. The Israelis often criticise the UN force for failing to disarm Hezbollah or other nonstate armed actors, although Resolution 1701 – the UN mandate for the body in Lebanon – does not stipulate this.

Conversely, UNIFIL has also been accused of working against Lebanese armed groups that are fighting Israel.

“Israel has long accused UNIFIL of failing to prevent Hezbollah’s military presence and rearmament, while Hezbollah and its supporters have often accused UNIFIL of acting in ways that serve Israeli intelligence and security interests,” Imad Salamey, a Lebanese political analyst, told Al Jazeera.

“Both criticisms contain elements of political messaging as much as operational assessment, with each side seeking to shape public opinion and strengthen its own narrative regarding security, sovereignty, and responsibility for the conflict.”

Israel intensified its war on Lebanon on March 2, just hours after Hezbollah fired on Israel for the first time in over a year, starting a chain of new disasters for the Lebanese.

Hezbollah said it was simply responding to more than a year of Israeli attacks on Lebanon and seeking retaliation for the US-Israeli assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Israel, which already occupied five points in southern Lebanon despite a 2024 ceasefire agreement, then proceeded with a new invasion of Lebanon – its most brazen in decades.

Since March 2, Israel has killed 3,412 people in the country, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, and displaced over 1.2 million, some multiple times.

Even before the latest Israeli assault, Israel had violated the 2024 ceasefire more than 10,000 times, according to the UN.

In southern Lebanon, where UNIFIL operates, towns and villages have been razed to the ground since the start of the war between Israel and Hezbollah in October 2023. The speed and severity of the destruction have intensified since the new Israeli a