UN: Hizbollah should join the Lebanese Army
The UN has made a proposal to solve the 'Hizbollah problem'. They want the group's fighters, and border guards to join the Lebanese Army.
It's an interesting compromise. The US wants Hizbollah to simply disarm, and for the Lebanese Army to take up the group's positions in the south and along the unofficial border with Israel. But by changing uniforms, Hizbollah's fighters would gain international legitimacy.
And they'd protect Hizbollah, which would finally be able to claim that it is ONLY a political force, and no longer a militia. It's days of kidnapping and hostage taking are consigned to history (Hizbollah has not engaged in terrorism since the war - and even then, the majority of its targets were military).
The suggestion is backed by UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen who said:
"Hizbollah has established itself over a long period of time
as a political party,"
"They now have a significant bloc of parliamentarians ...
and most likely Hizbollah will also have ministers in the new
Lebanese government. Remaining as a militia when they are a
party ... in government might look a bit odd," he said.
"I do hope that an internal dialoge in Lebanon will smoothly
lead to the leadership of Hizbollah themselves drawing the
conclusion that it's high time this militia is moulded into the
Lebanese army and thereby into the government apparatus."
At first sight looks like a good solution
Posted by
annie |
7:41 am
You know, at first brush, that does sound like a possible solution. But when you start asking questions about how it would be implemented, then you can see the roadblocks.
If HZB were integrated into the Army, they would have to turn in ALL of their arms and would be reissued standard Army gear. They have been given fairly sophisticated weapons by Iran; would HZB be willing to part with them?
They would have to swear to obey orders from higher command; that kind of oath is standard in most military forces. Would HZB be willing to do this, realizing the possibility that higher command might NOT be shi'ia?
They could not be partially integrated into the Army but would have to be fully integrated, so that HBZ would be spread throughout the Army, at any of the Army bases, or on any of the out-of-country missions the Army might be called on to carry out (e.g. UN peacekeeping missions). Would this be acceptable? In particular, they might NOT be stationed on the south border, except the few who are in the army units assigned to the south border. Would they accept this?
It would be easiest to integrate privates into the Army, if they can pass the physical. Then it would take only about 6 weeks to train them into the "Army way". Not so true for sergeants and definitely not true for the officers; it would take possibly 3 months to orient then to the Army way of doing things, and then they would need additional training in Army procedures and armament. So it might take 6 months to a year to retrain the NCOs and officers. Think about a HZB 'general' who utterly fails training. You can't have an incompetant general integrated into the Army!
These are just the first things that come to mind; there are thousands more. I don't have hopes that it woud be a workable solution.
barney
Posted by
Anonymous |
9:42 am
This is a horrible idea. If it joins the army, and some how still manages to be stationed in the south, any attacks on Israeli terrorists would be considered acts of war and agression from Lebanon against Israel, which means Israel would be "allowed" to attack Lebanon.
Posted by
Anonymous |
7:29 pm
that is exactly what they want then Lebanon is resposible for Hizballa .Lebanon should resist that Hizballa is a safegaurd to Israel and it,s millatery and should not be disarmed untill Israel signs a peace treaty with syria and lebanon and the palestenian ,untill then any disarmenent of hizballa is seuiside.american
Posted by
Anonymous |
5:26 am