According to a report on Galai Tzahal (IDF Radio), UN peacekeeping forces have been operating close to areas where the IDF is active, documenting and filming the surroundings - a practice that senior IDF officials say raises a serious alarm.
According to these officials, there is a real fear that this documentation reaches Hezbollah and is used for intelligence gathering and planning terror attacks. Distrust of UNIFIL is not new, but it has grown in recent months amid developments in Lebanon and mounting pressure on the Lebanese government to disarm Hezbollah.
Reporter Doron Kadosh revealed this morning that in a recent incident, the IDF discovered an official UNIFIL coordination document referring to Israel as the “Israeli enemy.” The IDF responded angrily and demanded clarification. In a formal reply, UNIFIL claimed it was an error stemming from copying terminology from the Lebanese army without correction, and issued an apology.
A senior IDF officer told reporters, “There is nothing good about UNIFIL - they mostly get in the way. They contribute nothing, certainly not to the disarmament of Hezbollah. They hinder the IDF’s freedom of action - and we are very concerned that footage of our forces along the border is leaking to Hezbollah. The sooner they move out of the area and end their activity, the better.”