Conflict in the Middle East: what is resolution 1701 that Lebanon says it is ready to implement to end hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah

Monday 30th September 2024 12:38 PM

This resolution calls for a permanent ceasefire and also demands respect by Israel for the sovereignty of Lebanon.

The Lebanese government says it is ready this Monday, September 30, to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1701, adopted to put an end to the 2006 conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, according to statements by the Prime Minister. Najib Mikati, who calls for an end to the fighting.

“We are ready, in Lebanon, to apply 1701, and as soon as a ceasefire is established, to send the army to the area south of the Litani” in coordination with the blue helmets of the Interim Force of the United Nations in Lebanon (UNIFIL), said Najib Mikati.

A permanent ceasefire

Resolution 1701, adopted unanimously on August 11, 2006 and written on five pages, called for the cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon, the disarmament of Hezbollah and its withdrawal from the area south of the Litani, a river about thirty kilometers from the Lebanese border crossing the Bekaa plain and flowing into the Mediterranean.

The resolution called for the deployment of the Lebanese army, in conjunction with UNIFIL, in southern Lebanon. But Hezbollah has maintained an armed presence in this area, from where it shells northern Israel.

“The objective (of Israel) is to undermine the axis of Islamic resistance (Iran), to undermine Hezbollah, to force them to apply United Nations resolution 1701,” analyzed the 23 Last September, Mariam Pirzadeh, journalist at France 24, former correspondent in Iran and specialist in local geopolitics, guest on C dans l’air.

“War is on between Lebanon and Israel.”
The journalist’s analysis @mapirzadehguest of @Caroline_Roux In #cdanslair. #MiddleEast pic.twitter.com/oA0DsaYoCQ

— C dans l’air (@Cdanslair)

Fears of an IDF ground offensive in southern Lebanon are growing in the country following the severe blows inflicted on the pro-Iranian Shiite militia, whose leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed Friday in an Israeli bombardment on the southern suburbs of Beirut.