UNIFIL - the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon

Definition: UNIFIL is the acronym for the United Nations Interim Force in South Lebanon, headquartered in Naqoura and led by Major-General Claudio Graziano of Italy.

Since 2006, UNIFIL's force has consisted of 15,000 troops, including 12,158 military personnel, 319 international civilian and 648 local civilian staff. The force is made up of troops from some two dozen countries. Since its posting in Lebanon, 279 members of UNIFIL have been killed in the line of duty.

UNIFIL's 2008-09 budget is $681 million.

UNIFIL was established by UN Security Council Resolution 425 and 426 on March 19, 1978, following the Israeli invasion of Lebanon eight days earlier.

UNIFIL's mission was to:

• Confirm the withdrawal of Israeli forces
• Restore international peace and security
• Assist the Lebanese government in ensuring the return of its effective authority in the area.

UNIFIL's mission has been a failure in most respect as it did not prevent either the Palestine Liberation organization from subsequently resuming attacks against Israel from South Lebanon or Israel from invading Lebanon again--in 1982, in an operation that sent the Israeli military into West Beirut, and again in 2006, when Israel and Hezbollah squared off. Neither war achieved Israel's objectives of ending belligerence north of its border, or of removing the need for UNIFIL's presence.

UNIFIL's history, now more than three decades old, has been marred by ineffectiveness, but the force has also been among the only reliable observers of local and cross-border activities, as well as a reliable witness and record-keeper of human rights violations and war crimes committed in the region by all sides since 1978.

Also Known As: Blue Helmets