The United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) is an organization founded on 29 May 1948 for peacekeeping in the Middle East. Established amidst the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, its primary task was initially to provide the military command structure to the peacekeeping forces in the Middle East to enable the peacekeepers to observe and maintain the ceasefire, and in assisting the parties to the Armistice Agreements in the supervision of the application and observance of the terms of those Agreements. The organization's structure and role has evolved over time as a result of the various conflicts in the region and at times UNTSO personnel have been used to rapidly deploy to other areas of the Middle East in support of other United Nations operations. The command structure of the UNTSO was maintained to cover the later peacekeeping organisations of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) to which UNTSO continues to provide military observers.
The Irish Army, known simply as the Army, is the land component of the Defence Forces of Ireland. Approximately 7,300 people served in the Irish Army on a permanent basis as of May 2016, and there were 1,600 active reservists, divided into two geographically organised brigades. As well as maintaining its primary roles of defending the State and internal security within the State, since 1958 the Army has had a continuous presence in peacekeeping missions around the world. The Army also participates in the European Union Battlegroups. The Air Corps and Naval Service support the Army in carrying out its roles.
The Qana massacre took place on April 18, 1996, near Qana, a village in Southern Lebanon, when the Israel Defense Forces fired artillery shells at a United Nations compound. Of 800 Lebanese civilians who had taken refuge in the compound, 106 were killed and around 116 injured. Four Fijian United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon soldiers were also seriously injured.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 425, adopted on March 19, 1978, five days after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in the context of Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon and the Lebanese Civil War, called on Israel to withdraw immediately its forces from Lebanon and established the United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon (UNIFIL). It was adopted by 12 votes to none; Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union abstained, and China did not participate.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, or UNIFIL, is a UN-NATO peacekeeping mission established on 19 March 1978 by United Nations Security Council Resolutions 425 and 426, to confirm Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon which Israel had invaded five days prior, in order to ensure that the government of Lebanon would restore its effective authority in the area. The 1978 South Lebanon conflict came in the context of Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon and the Lebanese Civil War.
The Blue Line is a border demarcation between Lebanon and Israel published by the United Nations on 7 June 2000 for the purposes of determining whether Israel had fully withdrawn from Lebanon.
Johan Ivar Hederstedt is Swedish Army general. Hederstedt became an officer in 1966 and served at Älvsborg Regiment and Northern Småland Regiment in the 1960s and 1970s. Hederstedt served with UNFICYP in Cyprus and UNIFIL in Lebanon before becoming commanding officer of the Life Guards Brigade in 1988. He was commanding officer of the Western Army Division from 1993 to 1996 and was International Operations Commander at the Swedish Armed Forces Headquarters. Hederstedt was then Supreme Commander of the Swedish Armed Forces from 2000 to 2003.
During the 2006 Lebanon War, a number of international incidents occurred in Lebanon, largely involving United Nations personnel in Lebanon, who have come under a number of attacks. On 25 July 2006, four unarmed United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) peacekeepers were killed during an Israeli air strike on a UN observation post in southern Lebanon. Israel later stated that the attack was an error due to the incorrect identification of the UN position as a militant enemy post.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 is a resolution that was intended to resolve the 2006 Lebanon War.
Lieutenant General Seth Kofi Obeng is a former Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) of the Ghana Armed Forces. He was once also the Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon. He is also a special adviser on African Union matters to the President of Ghana.
Julian Harston, son of Colonel Clive Harston, King's African Rifles, is an independent consultant on International Peace and Security matters. He retired as an Assistant Secretary-General in the United Nations. His last post was as the Representative of the Secretary-General in Belgrade, Serbia. Prior to this until March 2009 he was the Special Representative of the Secretary-General heading MINURSO Western Sahara.
Lieutenant-General William Bull O'Callaghan (DSM) was an Irish Army officer.
Lieutenant General Emmanuel Alexander Erskine is a retired Ghanaian soldier and politician. He is a former Chief of Army Staff of the Ghana Army. He is also a former commander of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
United Nations Security Council resolution 1365, adopted unanimously on 31 July 2001, after recalling previous resolutions on Israel and Lebanon, including resolutions 425 (1978), 426 (1978), 1310 (2000) and 1337 (2001), the Council decided to extend the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) for a further six months until 31 January 2002.
The 2010 Israel–Lebanon border clash occurred on August 3, 2010, between the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and Israel Defense Forces (IDF), after an IDF team attempted to cut down a tree on the Israeli side of the Blue Line, near the Israeli kibbutz of Misgav Am and the Lebanese village of Adaisseh. A high-ranking IDF officer was killed and another wounded, when LAF snipers opened fire on an Israeli observation post after receiving authorization from senior Lebanese commanders. IDF soldiers returned fire and responded with artillery shelling and airstrikes on Lebanese positions, killing two Lebanese soldiers and Al Akhbar correspondent Assaf Abu Rahhal. and wounding five soldiers and one journalist. This was the most serious escalation on the border since the 2006 Lebanon War.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1655, adopted unanimously on January 31, 2006, after recalling previous resolutions on Israel and Lebanon, including resolutions 425 (1978), 426 (1978) and 1614 (2005), the Council extended the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) for a further six months until July 31, 2006.
Michael Beary is a retired Irish Army Major general and former head of mission and force commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
Lieutenant General Lars-Eric Malcom Wahlgren was a Swedish Army officer. Wahlgren served as commanding officer of Gotland Military Command, as Chief of Home Guard and as Force Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR)
