The head of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon on Monday praised his troops' contribution to peace efforts, speaking as the force marked 40 years since its establishment on the border with Israel.
Maj. Gen. Michael Beary, the commander of the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, said UNIFIL "works tirelessly to pre-empt a return to conflict, a return to turmoil and loss of life, a return to some of the dark days of the past" between the two countries.
His comments came amid mounting tensions between Lebanon and Israel over several issues, including the security wall Israel is building along the border, which Beirut says may jut into Lebanese territory, as well as disputed plans for oil and gas exploration in the Mediterranean.
The oil and gas dispute dates back years, but recently, when Lebanon invited companies to bid for exploratory offshore drilling next year along the countries' sea border, Israel fiercely objected, saying some of the drilling would be taking place in its territorial waters.
UNIFIL currently numbers about 10,500 soldiers from 41 countries. The peacekeepers are mostly deployed south of Lebanon's Litani River and along the border with Israel.
The Second Lebanon War in 2006, between Israel and Lebanon's terrorist Hezbollah group, claimed the lives of more than 1,000 people on both sides.
Beary warned that conflict "can start in an instant," and that it could "take generations to find a permanent solution."
"South Lebanon has enjoyed 11 years of calm since 2006, and the last two years in our areas of operations in particular have been among the quietest on record," Beary said. "UNIFIL works together with the parties to sustain this calm."
In August last year, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley sharply criticized Beary, saying he was "blind" to the spread of illegal arms to Hezbollah and reiterating a call for the force to do more about it.
"Gen. Beary says there are no Hezbollah weapons. That's an embarrassing lack of understanding on what's going on around him," Haley said, adding that there is ample evidence, including Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah's own boasts.
Beary "seems to be the only person in south Lebanon who is blind to what Hezbollah is doing," and his view of the situation "shows that we need to have changes" in the mission, she said.
