U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 was intended to create a buffer zone between Israel and Hezbollah. Here’s a look at why it didn’t and what lies ahead in efforts to end the conflict in Lebanon.
A 2006 resolution by the United Nations Security Council ended the previous Israel-Hezbollah war but failed to keep the peace. Now, diplomats are fighting an uphill battle to revive the measure and pull the Middle East back from the brink of all-out war.
U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which sought to create a demilitarized zone in southern Lebanon, has not prevented fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militia group.
The cost of 1701’s failure is easy to see: Tens of thousands of people have fled their homes in northern Israel to escape Hezbollah rocket fire. And Israel’s military campaign against Hezbollah has set off a humanitarian crisis in Lebanon, displacing more than one million people and killing more than 2,400 over the past year, most of them in the past few weeks, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
On Oct. 1, Israel invaded Lebanon yet again, in an attempt to create the secure buffer zone that 1701 had promised to ensure.
“If the State of Lebanon and the world cannot keep Hezbollah away from our border, we have no choice but to do so ourselves,” Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military’s chief spokesman, said on Oct. 1, shortly after announcing the ground invasion.
Here’s what you need to understand about the U.N. resolution, why it failed and the difficult road ahead to ending the current conflict in Lebanon.
Here’s what you need to know:
- What is Resolution 1701?
- What went wrong?
- What happens next?
Where Israel is fighting in Lebanon
Note: Crossing locations are based on New York Times analysis of satellite imagery from Planet Labs.
Sources: Israeli military, United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon, OpenStreetMap
By Josh Holder and Lauren Leatherby
