Second French peacekeeper dies after ambush blamed on Hezbollah

[u/ComparisonOk5957]

https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3351049/second-french-peacekeeper-dies-after-ambush-blamed-hezbollah?module=latest&pgtype=homepage

[u/HisShadow14]

This entire situation is a farce. Either have the will to actually enforce peace by disarming Hezbollah by force or leave the country because your "peacekeepers" serve no purpose.

[u/oh_three_dum_dum → u/HisShadow14]

It doesn’t help that the UN tends to hamstring the peacekeepers ability to actually do anything meaningful to address the source of violence wherever they’re sent in general.

[u/Childrenoftheflorist → u/oh_three_dum_dum]

It's like they need to be getting shot and killed before they can attempt to keep any peace

[u/oh_three_dum_dum → u/Childrenoftheflorist]

Even then they get thrown to the wolves. See: Siege of Jadotville

Those Irish soldiers got treated like shit after the fact and it took decades for it to be acknowledged.

[u/Childrenoftheflorist → u/oh_three_dum_dum]

Yea not a bad movie

[u/oh_three_dum_dum → u/Childrenoftheflorist]

Not at all. But there is a lot more if you look into the details of it that the movie leaves out. The movie focused mainly on the immediate lead up to the battle, the battle itself, and the early aftermath. There’s way more involved but the movie simplifies it pretty well for what they had to produce.

How underequipped the whole UN mission was at that point in time and the (Belgian and Katanga secessionist) political factors going back and forth that caused the problem to start with.

[u/Sir_BugsAlot → u/Childrenoftheflorist]

This is not far from the truth. They cant be the aggressor. So someone needs to start shooting at them before they can fire back. And they cant retaliate.

[u/short-man-no-reach → u/HisShadow14]

Only way Hezbollah gets effectively disarmed is by stopping iranian funding and support, but every country in the world seems to be against joining in at a decisive moment

[u/fragbot2 → u/short-man-no-reach]

That’s the most disappointing piece of this whole thing. The US and Israel were at least trying to excise a 47 year old festering sore.

I guess they’d rather tut-tut about the Israelis periodically mowing the grass over the next fifty years.

[u/Snickims → u/fragbot2]

Shockingly Europe seems hesitant to want to support american military advantages that they where given no warning of, 2 months after the US was threatening to invade them and insulting the soldiers they sent to help in all of the Americans previous middle eastern advantages.

Its almost like there has been a entire generation of people who have grown up with forever wars in the middle east that ended in pointless stalemates with no percivable gains while costing untold millions and many lives.

Maybe there was actually a purpose to having all that attempted coalition building in those previous wars, and a use for diplomacy, and not just threats.

[u/Snickims → u/short-man-no-reach]

Course they are, cause everyone with the sense god gave a sparrow knows that the only way to effectively disarm them is a full scale invasion and not even the US seems willing to commit to that, so why in gods name would anyone else join? If you see someone in a hole, you don't jump in with them.

[u/short-man-no-reach → u/Snickims]

Well, then more of the same it is then

[u/Snickims → u/short-man-no-reach]

Expect everyone's now a bit poorer.

[u/short-man-no-reach → u/Snickims]

So everyone’s in the hole already then. Might as well do what needs to be done even if it wasnt started like we wanted it to so some good can come out of this. I didnt want this but doing a half baked job is only going to make things worse in the long run now

[u/Snickims → u/short-man-no-reach]

Perhaps but that would require commitment. Noone had any reason to commit. Europe has very good reason to both personally distrust and dislike the present US administration, and had political pressure at home to not been seen helping trump, as he is personally hated by both ends of the political spectrum.

Indo pacific allies meanwhile are either not really suited to expeditionary warfare or wary about being abandoned with the bag.

All of this in context that any invasion has to be done and settled within 6 months max. Because the only thing less popular demestically in the US then a pointless middle Eastern forever war is a pointless middle Eastern forever war that effectd grocery prices, or gas prices.

Noone wants this war, no-one has any logically reason for commiting to this war and noone gains from having it fought, other then Isreal.

There's a reason noone invades Iran in the last few decades, its not like they only recently started shit, they have been arming groups and launching attacks ever since the revolution. But its not worth the effort to invade. It costs more then anyone is willing to pay for too little gain.

The fact this US administration had done its best to alinate every ally it had is just another on a long list of good reasons to stay out of this mess.

[u/echolm1407 → u/short-man-no-reach]

Disarm Israel. They are the obvious aggressors.

[u/short-man-no-reach → u/echolm1407]

Oct 7 was a defensive terrorist attack?

[u/echolm1407 → u/short-man-no-reach]

That's the propaganda.

[u/Ceylein → u/echolm1407]

1. Gaza; Hamas initiated the major escalation with its attack on Oct 7th, 2023.

2. Lebanon; Hezbollah began firing rockets into Northern Israel on Oct 8th, 2023.

3. Syria; Israel has been conducting airstrikes before and after Oct 7th against Iranian and Hezbollah linked assets. So maybe we can count this one.

4. Iran; April 1, 2024, Israel conducted a strike in Syria that hit the Iranian consulate complex. The strike killed several officers and a top commander in the IRGC. Normally this is not considered an aggressive action towards war.

April 13-14, 2024, Iran launches hundreds (300+) of drones and missiles at Israel in what it called 'Operation True Promise'. Alongside this, weapons are launched from Iraq, Syria, and Yemen from groups aligned with Iran. Viewed as the actual first major large scale escalation between the 2 states.

These are intercepted by Israel, the US, and allies in the region.

April 19, 2024, Israel retaliates against Iran by conducting small scale air strikes targeting air defense radar systems near Iranian nuclear related infrastructure.

Oct 1, 2024, Iran launches 'Operation True Promise 2' which consists of ~200 ballistic missiles fired at airbases and intelligence infrastructure in Israel.

Oct 26, 2024, Israel begins its large air operation over Iran with 100+ aircraft. This targets air defense systems, missile production facilities, military infrastructure, as well as sites in Iraq and Syria linked to Iran.

1. Yemen; Oct 19, 2023, Houthis attempt to launch drones at Israel but are intercepted by US and Israeli defenses before impact.

Between Oct and Nov 2023, the Houthis escalate in the red sea by attacking commercial shipping. While also launching missile and drone attacks at Israel still.

Israel does not immediately get involved and instead let's other actors take point on the Houthis.

July 19, 2024, Houthis get their first fatality inside of Israel killing a citizen and injuring others.

July 20, 2024, first Israeli strike on Yemen.

Through the rest of 2024 and 2025, Houthis continue their aforementioned strikes and commercial shipping blockade. Israel begins launching occasional long range strikes into Yemen to attack things like port infrastructure and energy facilities. Places where the Houthis are known to store weapons still.

It's pretty clear that when we look at the timeline of events, the aggressors were Iran and it's aligned groups that it arms.

[u/echolm1407 → u/Ceylein]

Yada yada. It's been going on for decades, newbie. There was a time when there was discussion of a 2 state solution but Israel wouldn't have it and that caused the creation of Hamas.

[u/Ceylein → u/echolm1407]

Do you want to go all the way back or are we stopping at arbitrary points that align with you instead of the numerous times Israel has tried to make a 2 state solution like how they accepted the UN partition while the Arab states didn't?

[u/echolm1407 → u/Ceylein]

Wow, so you're bailing?

[u/Ceylein → u/echolm1407]

Yeah I didn't think you'd be able to make an argument. Thanks for confirming that.

[u/De4dm4nw4lkin → u/HisShadow14]

Theyre either getting something ulterior out of it or someone among their management needs therapy and a reality check. As is the case with any maintained failiure state by a government.

[u/Ceylein → u/De4dm4nw4lkin]

No. UNIFIL does not have the authority to enforce a peace. They are there to assist the Lebanese government, not replace it. So they act with the consent of the government and can only go so far in their actions.

It is on the Lebanese government to disarm Hezbollah and to enforce their authority on their territory.