It's Business As Usual in South Lebanon

In the summer of 2006, Israel and the Lebanese terrorist group Hizballah fought a war. Hizballah shot rockets into northern Israel, and Israel re-occupied parts of South Lebanon and bombed areas of Beirut to try to get the Lebanese goverment to reign in Hizballah.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 stopped the fighting. Among its requirements was that Hizballah retain no military presence in South Lebanon. Predictably, UNSCR 1701 has proven worthless.

Last week, a weapons cache exploded in a building within a civilian area of a Southern Lebanon town. Hizballah operatives immediately sealed the area, preventing UN monitors and Lebanese military forces from entering and investigating what had happened. Hizballah then emptied the site of stored weapons and transferred them elsewhere for safe-keeping. The Israelis got it all on videotape, which is accessible within this report the Israelis issued.

The whole episode, similar to one earlier this year, demonstrates the following:

1. Hizballah is in flagrant violation of UNSCR 1701 and is operating in South Lebanon as it pleases;
2. Hizballah conducts military activity, including storing weapons, in civilian areas with no regard for potential harm to civilians;
3. Hizballah is rebuilding its weapons inventory in South Lebanon, including according to Israeli estimates some 20,000 rockets that can travel 25 miles and other rockets capable of reaching 125 miles; and
4. UNIFIL, the UN force charged with monitoring Hizballah activities in South Lebanon and preventing the group from rearming, is a scared bunch of intimidated cowards who won't lift a finger to Hizballah, and the Lebanese army -- which provided Hizballah political cover for the cache explosion -- is no better.

What's to be learned from it all? More people should second-guess the efficacy of a UN-broked solution to any future conflict and allow Israel to finish the job. Of course, that also requires an Israeli government to make the necessary decisions to do so.