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An explanatory panel under the title “Resolution 1701 and National Defense Strategy” convened today at La Sagesse University in Furn el-Chebbak, organized by the Faculty of Political Science and International Relations.
The panel was devoted to tackling and promoting awareness of the guidelines of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, the national defense strategy and armed groups on Lebanese territories.
The workshop focused on descriptive data with the participation of UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Joanna Wronecka, UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander Major General Aroldo Lázaro Sáenz, former President Michel Sleiman, former Foreign Affairs Ministers Nassif Hitti and Tarek Mitri, former Minister of Justice Ibrahim Najjar and several MPs and officials.
The first panel, chaired by former Foreign Minister Nassif Hitti, focused on the coercive force of UNSC Resolution 1701 and its effects on regional peace and security, and also on the challenges of its implementation.
“Will there be a roadmap to implement Resolution 1701 gradually and then completely? Will we find ourselves in a war extending from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank?” Hitti asked. He also emphasized that there should be a better role and more effort exerted by the UN Security Council and proposed reaching a certain indirect understanding between the two parties of conflict with the Security Council as mediator if Resolution 1701 cannot be directly implemented.
He then told This Is Beirut that “UN Resolution 1701 needs amendments, but the process of its implementation must be gradual, as results cannot be attained all at once but rather through a pragmatic and gradual process.”
UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Joanna Wronecka highlighted the positive effects of Resolution 1701 on regional peace, security and stability in southern Lebanon. “Sometimes, during crises, there may be opportunities,” she indicated, calling on Lebanese political parties to seize these said opportunities to lead a more unified state.
As for UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander Major General Aroldo Lázaro Sáenz, he listed the challenges of implementing Resolution 1701 and specified the role of UNIFIL. He said that since the beginning of the current situation in southern Lebanon and along the Blue Line, UNIFIL has faced numerous challenges while working to carry out its roles in implementing the resolution.
“Since October 8, 2023, there have been daily exchanges of fire across the borders resulting in civilian casualties and severe damage to infrastructure,” Lázaro added.
In this context, Raghida Dergham, Founder and Executive Chairman of the Beirut Institute, explained the context that surrounded the issuance of Resolution 1701 while stressing that the latter falls within “Chapter 6-and-a-half.” Indeed, Dergham supported her claim by arguing that provisions issued under Chapter 7 would be implemented by force, whereas provisions that fall within the scope of Chapter 6 would require a consensus to be implemented.
Kataeb bloc MP Salim Sayegh stressed that Resolution 1701 was applied in an almost exemplary manner at a time when Hezbollah was smuggling weapons and ammunition from Iran via Syria.
As for former Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar, he said that a national defense strategy doesn’t fall within the powers of the caretaker government and is dependent on political consensus.
Former Minister of Foreign Affairs Tarek Mitri, who was a key panelist, said to This Is Beirut that “all concerned parties are stopping the implementation of UNSC Resolution 1701” and deplored the fact that the Lebanese Army hasn’t yet been deployed on the southern border.
Finally, former President Michel Sleiman indicated that what stopped the 2006 July war on Lebanon was Resolution 1701. “Although the Taif Agreement issued a decision to disarm all militias in Lebanon, Hezbollah kept all their weapons and invaded Beirut on May 7,” Sleiman stressed. He also reiterated that Hezbollah was the only formation that did not abide by the Baabda Declaration, which aimed to neutralize Lebanon and implement the 1949 truce agreement during his presidential term.
He then asserted that the Shiite movement refused all sorts of agreements to reach the defense strategy by refusing to cooperate with the Lebanese army and neglecting the Arab initiative for peace. “The Baabda Declaration was the path to implement Resolution 1701, and Hezbollah refused to abide by it, which is why it will refuse that UN Resolution 1701 be applied,” he concluded.
