Information AboutUnifil |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT UNITED NATIONS INTERIM FORCE IN LEBANON | |
| history of lebanon | |
| israel-lebanon conflict | |
| peacekeeping missions and operations involving the united nations | |
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When Israel invaded Lebanon again in 1982 ( Operation Peace For Galilee ), U.N. positions were overrun. During the occupation, UNIFIL's function was mainly the provision of food and aid to locals in Southern Lebanon. Beginning in 1985 , Israel scaled back its permanent positions in Lebanon, although this process was punctuated by brief invasions and bombings, as in the 1993 Operation Accountability and the 1996 Operation Grapes Of Wrath . In 1999, it undertook a full withdrawal, which concluded in 2000 and enabled UNIFIL to resume its military tasks. The Syrian and Lebanese governments claim that the Shebaa Farms area, which Israel and others in the international community view as part of the occupied Golan Heights , is Lebanese territory. In their view, gives continued legal sanction to armed anti-Israeli groups in Lebanon (though the UN has officially certified that Israel has fully withdrawn from all areas it occupied after 1973). CURRENT OPERATION UNIFIL is currently primarily deployed along the U.N. drawn Blue Line dividing Israel (and the Israeli Golan Heights ) and southern Lebanon. Its activities have centred around monitoring military activity between Hezbollah and the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) with the aim of reducing tensions and allaying continuing low-level armed conflict. UNIFIL has also played an important role in clearing landmines, assisting displaced persons, and providing humanitarian assistance in this underdeveloped region. UNIFIL forces have fallen out of favour in Israel and claims that little regard has been given to their safety by the IDF following accusations that it was complicit in a fatal 's excuse for not deploying its Army along the border) [http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArtVty.jhtml?itemNo=623427 . UNIFIL currently employs some 2000 soldiers, 50 , Poland , India , France , Ukraine , Italy and Ireland . Its annual budget is about US$100 million. UNIFIL is led by French Major General Alain Pellegrini , formerly French military attache in Beirut and head of the mideast division of the French Military Intelligence . To date UNIFIL has suffered over 250 fatalities during the course of its deployment. SEE ALSO SOURCES
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