United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 - Background - August 6th-8th

August 6th-8th

Lebanon's Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said on August 6 that the draft resolution was "not adequate," and House Speaker Nabih Berri, serving as a diplomatic conduit for Hezbollah, rejected the draft. The draft made no mention of Israeli forces withdrawing from Lebanon.

Lebanon proposed changes on August 7. It agreed to dispatch 15,000 troops to its southern border if Israeli troops would leave the country, handing over their positions to the UN Interim Force. The draft UN resolution called for "the immediate cessation by Hezbollah of all attacks and the immediate cessation by Israel of all offensive military operations." A second resolution would later establish an international peacekeeping force that would help Lebanon's army take control of the country's southern border, where Hezbollah had held sway since the Israeli withdrawal in 2000.

The resolution stated that Israeli forces shall withdraw in parallel with the deployment of Lebanese and UNIFIL forces into the southern Lebanon, and established that the Lebanese government should have control over all Lebanese territory, and that "there will be no weapons without the consent of the government of Lebanon and no authority other than that of the government of Lebanon."

On August 8, several changes were made to the proposal. Lebanon and its Arab League allies pressed the UN to call for an immediate Israeli withdrawal. Such a withdrawal had not been mentioned in the draft resolution; an omission that Lebanon's government and Arab League diplomats called unacceptable. Lebanese Prime Minister Siniora's Cabinet, which included two ministers from Hezbollah, made its decision on troop deployment unanimously, ministers said. The Lebanese proposal also called for Israel to hand over Shebaa Farms to the UN.