Grand Jaafari Mufti Sheikh Ahmad Kabalan spoke out on Sunday, on the eve of the renewal of the mandate of the United Nations Interim Forces in South Lebanon (UNIFIL), affirming that “there is no place for UNIFIL in Lebanon if their presence comes at the expense of Lebanese sovereignty.”
“The south of the Litani is not a wasteland for rent,” he stated, adding that “the inhabitants of southern Lebanon know their interests.”
Sheikh Kabalan is thus confronting Hezbollah-opposed attempts to uphold the provision that allows the UN force to move freely, and independently of the Army, in the region covered by Resolution 1701.
“Wielding the threat of Chapter VII (which grants more military power to UNIFIL) is an old story,” he continued, highlighting once again the people-army-resistance triptych.
Abdallah Bou Habib, the caretaker Minister of Foreign Affairs, is currently in New York for the UN Security Council meeting. On Friday, he emphasized Lebanon’s adamant refusal to give legitimacy to the transfer of the UNIFIL mandate from Chapter VI of the UN Charter, which calls for the peaceful resolution of conflicts, to Chapter VII, which calls for the imposition of the resolution by force.
