498 Journal of the Spanish Institute for Strategic Studies N. 5 / 2015 SOUTHERN LIBANO: A KEY AREA FOR SECURITY AND STABILITY INTRODUCTION The root of all problems that occur in the Middle East are to be found in the History and Religion. The area has been occupied by the major empires (Persian, Macedonian, Roman, Ottoman, British, etc.) and has been a crossing point for many civilizations. Furthermore the creation of Israel in 1948 represented a humiliation for the Arab countries on the grounds that a Western country was based in the heart of Islam displacing its historical inhabitants. As if this were not enough, since then, all the wars that the Arabs have carried out against their hated neighbors have resulted in clear losses for them. The conflict between Palestinians and Israelis is the insurmountable obstacle to a stable situation, according to experts it would not take place even in the unlikely event that the longed Palestinian state was created. The hatred of Jews and desire to leave the land they occupy has been the trigger of many conflicts. As a matter of fact Israel has been attacked from all fronts. Since the Camp David Accords in 1978, relations with Egypt and Jordan have improved but this is not the case scenario of Syria and Iran, since both countries are still considered dangerous. Israel does not consider Lebanon a threat to its security but its territory has been used by many groups to launch attacks and rockets into the Jewish state due to the fact that from the Lebanese side of the Israeli; northern cities can be dominated, the ease of concealment that provides the border area and perhaps most important, the proximity of several Palestinian refugee camps. Among the groups mentioned, the Organization for the Liberation of Palestine (PLO) and Hezbollah have been the most active. Israel’s reaction has resulted in repelling the attacks and sometimes venture into Lebanon in order to occupy the south. The whole country has been affected by these incidents but mostly the inhabitants of the border region who have suffered more intensely therefore exacerbating their aversion to Jews. Israel has always maintained and continues to do so a close monitoring of this narrow strip of territory. The presence of UN troops was definitely an improvement of security but did not meant the end of all problems. Since the summer of 2006, the increase of multinational troops and invaluable presence of Lebanese army troops LAF determined a progressively problems reduction. http://revista.ieee.es/index.php/ieee
REVISTA IEEE 5
To see the actual publication please follow the link above