As soon as the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon came into effect at dawn on Wednesday, November 27, columns of armored vehicles from the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) made their way toward southern Lebanon. The Lebanese authorities were demonstrating their commitment to fulfilling their part of the agreement, namely, the redeployment of the LAF in the border strip alongside the blue helmets of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), as the Israeli army withdraws within 60 days and Hezbollah evacuates.
The troops were soon faced with their first test. They had to cordon off several roads to prevent the population from returning to areas where the Israeli army was still present. On Thursday, Israel and Hezbollah accused each other of ceasefire violations, following an Israeli air raid on a Shiite militia rocket depot in the south.
The agreement calls for the LAF to deploy 10,000 soldiers in southern Lebanon. According to the operational deployment plan, which has yet to be specified by the Lebanese authorities, 1,500 men are to be sent immediately to the border zone to reinforce the 4,000 or so soldiers usually stationed there. The latter are due to redeploy, having evacuated their bases when the war broke out at the end of September. The number of reinforcements is expected to rise to 6,000 over the next six months, a challenge for an army lacking in resources. The LAF will require financial support from Lebanon's donors, as well as training and new equipment.
To this end, the United States and France will be working with the Military Technical Committee for Lebanon. This committee includes representatives of the European partner armies, including France and Italy, which chairs the committee. A plan to reinforce the LAF in southern Lebanon is currently under discussion. In addition to recruiting, training and equipping additional troops, the plan calls for reinforcing their offensive and defensive capabilities, as well as demining, decontamination and public works efforts. This should enable the Lebanese army to carry out its missions autonomously: dismantling unauthorized military sites, confiscating illegal weapons and preventing the presence of other armed groups, in particular Hezbollah.
Implementation of this ambitious plan would cost hundreds of millions of euros, from salaries and ammunition to the logistical reinforcement of food aid and fuel. Western support, which currently consists mainly of donations and technical assistance to help the Lebanese army overcome the economic crisis, is still a long way off.
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