"A 21-page text marked “UN restricted,” dated Aug 18, sets the conditions under which the force of up to 15,000 soldiers — mandated under UN Resolution 1701 — can use, or threaten to use, weapons.

France, which currently commands the 2000-strong UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) slated to expand under the resolution, has been criticised for sending just 200 extra soldiers, doubling its current contingent.

Several other countries have also expressed reluctance to get further involved, in large part because of a belief that the rules of engagement are too restrictive to effectively enforce the ceasefire contained in Resolution 1701.

According to the Le Monde article datelined from New York, the UN document said UNIFIL is authorised to use “appropriate and credible” force in self-defence.

It can also use “proportional” force to prevent the buffer zone between the Israeli border and Lebanon’s Litani River from being used for “hostile activities”; to counter resistance in enforcing its mandate; or to protect civilians.

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“We are not going to actively seek out Hezbollah’s arms,” a high-ranking UN military official told Le Monde. “But if, during a patrol, we come across a cache, our mandate is to seize those rockets.”

Is this a wise application of the honor system? Hezbollah holds 23 of the 128 seats in the Lebanese legislature following the June 2005 elections which they won in a landslide. These guys are terrorists linked to Iran and Syria as everyone knows. Well, not everyone. As for the army, according to a TimesOnline analysis...

"There is a feeling in Lebanon that the army is almost an extension of Hezbollah. The general assumption is that if it was ever sent against Hezbollah, the army would split with more than half refusing to fight."

So we are asked to believe that Hezbollah, which controls 18% of the Lebanese legislature and at least 50% of the Lebanese army, will disarm itself while the United Nations force tends to other, more important, duties. How did Olmert and Israel ever agree to any of this?