UNIFIL Attack, Hizablla's First Step ToTake Back Control Of The Border

The attack against the Spanish contingent of the UNIFIL was expected. The Lebanese authorities have been warning of such plots. I even expected attacks against UNIFIL shortly after their deployment.

The purpose of the attack is obvious. Iran wants to reinforce its leverage against Israel (and the West) by being able to wage war against the Jewish State on two fronts, one in the South in Gaza, the other in the North, in South Lebanon. Hamas has now a free hand to arm itself and attack Israel after routing the PLO from Gaza. Hizballa is about to do the same by expelling UNIFIL from South Lebanon through a series of bloody terrorist attacks.

Hizballa's responsibility in this incident is unquestionable, even though the actual perpetrators might have been members of some pro-Syrian Palestinian group. El Khiyam is a Hizballa bastion and nothing happens there without the knowledge of Iran's proxy in Lebanon.

I expect more such attacks against UNIFIL, culminating in a very bloody operation similar to the one that caused the Marines and French paratroopers to abandon their mission in Lebanon or the one that forced the UN out of Iraq.

I do hope that UNIFIL takes the appropriate measures to reinforce its positions and intensify its patrols to prevent such attacks in the future, and prove the UN's resolve in performing its mission in Lebanon despite heavy losses.

This Summer is shaping up to be a difficult one for Lebanon, and the Saniora government may not survive the Syro-Iranian onslaught without serious help from the West, the UN and moderate Arab nations.