Israel Matzav: UNIFIL effectively collaborated on Friday's rocket attack

UNIFIL effectively collaborated on Friday's rocket attack

On Friday, I reported on a rocket attack against the town of Nahariya on Israel's northwestern border with Lebanon. The Lebanese newspaper a-Nahar reports in Sunday's editions that UNIFIL knew about the rocket attack ten days in advance and did nothing.

According to A Nahar, UNIFIL troops also received report of the type ofrockets to be used. The United Nations force passed the information on to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) two days ahead of the shooting. The report did not state whether the LAF acted on the intelligence.

On Saturday, Lebanese media reported that the rockets were fired by four men who arrived to a village near Tyre by pick-up truck, positioned the rockets on launchers, set up timers and escaped. Following the shooting on Friday, UNIFIL and the LAF raised their level of alert.

The IDF fired about 15 artillery shells at the source of the shooting immediately afterwards. It estimated that the rockets were fired by elements of Global Jihad and that the incident was isolated and would not lead to escalation on the Lebanese front.

Later Friday evening, Israel filed an official complaint with the UN over the incident. In the complaint, Israel's envoy Gabriela Shalev clarified that Jerusalem held the Lebanese state responsible for the shooting.

Here's the problem: Under the UNIFIL rules of engagement, about all they can (officially) do is to notify the Lebanese Armed Forces. Given those circumstances, it would have been far better had they notified the IDF.

By the way, I wonder if these guys were the shooters:

Israel Matzav: UNIFIL effectively collaborated on Friday's rocket attack