The escalation of hostilities between Israel and Lebanon puts the spotlight of the international media on the so-called Blue Line, the line drawn by the United Nations which extends for 120 km along the southern border of Lebanon and which separates the Land of the Cedars from Israel and from the Golan Heights occupied by the Jewish state. This is not an official international border, but a demarcation line (or ‘withdrawal line’) established in 2000 precisely to confirm the then withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon. Originally, this was the border established by Great Britain and France in the 1920s, between Lebanon, Syria and Palestine. Today, any unauthorized crossing of the Blue Line – by land or air anywhere – constitutes a violation of Security Council Resolution 1701.
United Nations peacekeepers – the so-called peacekeepers – have been deployed to patrol Lebanon’s southern border with Israel in 1978. The mandate for the operation – known as the United Nations Interposition Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) – is renewed every year by the 15-member UN Security Council. Following a month-long war between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah militants in 2006, Unifil’s mandate was expanded when the Council adopted Resolution 1701.
The area of operations of the peacekeepers is delimited by the Litani river to the north and by the Blue Line to the south. The mission has more than 10,000 troops from 50 countries (1,200 from Italy) and approximately 800 civilian personnel.
The Blue Line is based on several historical maps, some dating back nearly 100 years, but doesn’t always translate into clarity on the ground. After the 2006 war, UNIFIL worked with the parties to install visual markers – the famous ‘blue barrels’ – showing the precise route of the Blue Line. Each of the 272 blue barrels currently marking the line was only placed after a complex examination and agreement of both parties.