, U.N. peacekeepers may at some point resort to force to prevent repeated Israeli violations of Lebanese airspace, the commander of the U.N. force in southern Lebanon said on Oct. 19.
But to do so would require the United Nations to rewrite its rules of engagement for its troops, Major-General Alain Pellegrini of France told a news conference.
Pellegrini also said his 7,200-strong force had seen no evidence of illegal arms — whether in Hizbollah hands or smuggled in from Syria — since moving into southern Lebanon to enforce an Aug. 14 cease-fire ending a 34-day war between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas.
Asked about regular U.N. reports of violations of Lebanese airspace by Israeli military aircraft, he said these had declined recently but remained a problem “and are not to be accepted.”
“At the moment we have not other means to prevent this kind of violation beyond dialogue and diplomatic ways,” he said. But if diplomacy was not enough, “maybe it could be considered other ways.”
While anti-aircraft missiles deployed by the French contingent of the U.N. force were now reserved solely for self-defense, this could change if the rules of engagement were revised, he said.
“It could be. It could be,” he said. “This has to be considered.”
NO MOVE TO REWRITE RULES
U.N. officials hastened to add that there was no move under way for now to rewrite the rules of engagement. Israeli U.N. Ambassador Dan Gillerman said he could not believe Pellegrini would make such a statement.
Lebanon
