Hezbollah's July 12, 2006, attack in northern Israel, in which two Israeli soldiers were kidnapped, elicited an Israeli military response that again embroiled the region in a multi-dimensional conflict. The month-long war touched upon an array of critical U.S. foreign policy issues in the Middle East, ranging from the continued instability arising from the lack of a comprehensive settlement to the Arab-Israeli peace process, to the preservation of Lebanon's sovereignty and independence which remains hampered by the inability to disarm Hezbollah. Though the primary combatants were part of a triangular dynamic in which Israel was (and still is) at war with Hezbollah in Lebanon and with Palestinian militants, including Hamas, in the Gaza Strip, there were secondary players who added additional layers of complexity to the conflict, namely Iran and Syria. Both countries have played significant roles in arming, training, and financing Hezbollah (and to a lesser extent Hamas) and have used the Lebanese Shiite organization as a proxy to further their own goals in the region. Iran may have aspirations to become the dominant power in the Middle East, and many in the international community are closely focused on its potential weapons of mass destruction capability. In this light, the fighting in southern Lebanon was viewed by some as a contest between two of the Middle East's most bitter rivals and most powerful actors, Israel and Iran (via Hezbollah by proxy), and it could be a harbinger of future indirect confrontations between two possibly nuclear-armed nations. Hezbollah's July 2006 attack inside Israeli territory and repeated Israeli-Palestinian clashes in the Gaza Strip and West Bank illustrated not only the risk posed by terrorist groups operating along Israel's borders, but more importantly, the risk to regional security in the absence of comprehensive peace agreements between Israel and the Palestinians, Lebanon, and Syria. Particularly along Israel's northern front, achieving peace between the major parties has been an elusive goal. The task has grown even more complex with the rising influence of non-state political movements/terrorist organizations, such as Hezbollah and Hamas, on Lebanon's southern border. Neither organization recognizes Israel's right to exist as a nation-state. The 2006 war in Lebanon is the latest manifestation of conflict along the Israeli-Lebanese-Syrian border, the final demarcation of which has long been in dispute and is exacerbated by the technical/formal state of war (not active) that exists between Israel and its two northern neighbors. On the Lebanese side of the border, historically weak, usually Christian/Sunni-led governments paid scant attention to the southern portion of the country, a predominately Shiite area. Without much of an economy or government military presence in the south, the region was prone to penetration by outside groups (mainly Palestinian) opposed to Israel until the Shiites residing there formed their own militias. Since the earliest days of Jewish settlement in what was then the British-controlled Palestine-Mandate, militants could operate with impunity over a porous border. Before Hezbollah came on the scene, the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) used Lebanon as a base to wage a guerrilla war against Israel. Repeated PLO-Israeli clashes in Lebanon helped ignite the 15-year long Lebanese civil war. To eliminate the PLO threat from its border, Israel occupied a buffer zone in southern Lebanon for 18 years, a policy which many observers believe accelerated the politicization of Lebanese Shiites there and, with significant assistance from Iran, led to the creation of Hezbollah. Today, with the PLO long expelled from Lebanon and the Syrian armed forces no longer in Lebanon and at a major technological disadvantage vis-à-vis Israel's conventional forces, it is Hezbollah that has stepped in to fill the power vacuum in southern Lebanon and continue to threaten Israel with the full support of its foreign patrons - Syria and Iran. Syria seeks the return of the Golan Height which it lost to Israel in the June 1967 Six Day War and finds non-state groups like Hezbollah and other Palestinian terrorist organizations based in Damascus as useful proxies. Most analysts believe the Israeli-Lebanese-Syrian tri-border area will remain a tinderbox that could spark future conflicts so long as territorial disputes remain unresolved. While Syria and Israel have at times come close to an agreement, most recently in 1999, significant differences between the two sides remain, notably control over the shores of the Sea of Galilee, a critical source of fresh water with symbolic importance as well for both countries. After more than four weeks of fighting between Israel and the Lebanese Shiite Muslim militia Hezbollah, on August 11, 2006 the U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 1701, calling for a "full cessation of hostilities based upon, in particular, the immediate cessation by Hezbollah of all attacks and the immediate cessation by Israel of all offensive military operations." The resolution provides: expansion of the existing U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) from 2,000 to a maximum of 15,000; deployment of UNIFIL plus a Lebanese Army force to southern Lebanon to monitor the cease-fire; withdrawal of Israeli forces in southern Lebanon "in parallel" with the deployment of U.N. and Lebanese forces to the south; a ban on delivery of weapons to "any entity or individual" in Lebanon, except the Lebanese Army. The resolution requested the U.N. Secretary General to develop proposals within 30 days for delineation of Lebanon's international borders, including the disputed Shib'a Farms enclave located near the Lebanese-Syrian-Israeli tri-border area. The resolution's preamble also emphasizes the need to address the issue of prisoners on both sides The resolution also calls upon the international community to extend financial and humanitarian assistance to the Lebanese people, including facilitating safe return of displaced persons. The agreement entered into force on August 14. Factors critical to the effectiveness of the peacekeeping measures adopted by Resolution 1701 and the likelihood of a sustainable cease-fire include acceptance of the arrangements by Israel, Hezbollah, and the Lebanese population; training and motivation of peacekeeping forces; rules of engagement that allow for a military response to challenges; and cooperation among the various organizations involved in peacekeeping under Resolution 1701. The U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), created in 1978 initially to monitor an earlier Israeli withdrawal, has fluctuated in size over the years, comprising approximately 2,000 military personnel as of mid-2006. As noted above, Resolution 1701 envisions increasing UNIFIL to a maximum of 15,000, of which approximately 7,000 would come from Italy, France, Spain, and other European countries. Turkey and Qatar have agreed to participate, thus providing Arab/Muslim representation and Indonesia has been approached as well. U.N. planners are hopeful that more Arab or at least other Muslim forces may participate as well to broaden support for UNIFIL. There has been talk of deploying the the expanded UNIFIL not only in southern Lebanon but also along the Syrian-Lebanese border. Syria objects to this proposal as a hostile act. (See below.) Resolution 1701 also welcomes a decision by the Lebanese Government to deploy 15,000 personnel from the Lebanese Armed Forces to southern Lebanon as the Israeli forces withdraw. There are questions, however, about the likely effectiveness of Lebanese troops in maintaining stability. The 70,000-member Lebanese Armed Forces have limited capabilities and largely obsolescent equipment. Moreover, they are divided along religious sectarian lines, although Lebanon's leaders have tried in recent years to build a professional and more integrated force. Although the government does not release figures on the sectarian composition of the Lebanese Armed Forces, according to former Lebanese army general Elias Hanna, the army's officer corps is predominantly Christian and Sunni Muslim while the rank and file is about 70% Shiite. Deployment of Lebanese military contingents could help break the deadlock over monitoring the Lebanese-Syrian border, however, since the various parties have not objected to the presence of Lebanese troops. Some analysts believe that Resolution 1701, while it may succeed in creating a temporary calm and end to the fighting, will probably fail to change the fundamental political and military dynamics on the ground that started the war in the first place—the presence of a well-armed Hezbollah militia on Israel's borders. Although Resolution 1701 calls for an expanded UNIFIL, it will not be operating in accordance with Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which allows the Security Council to "take such action by air, sea, or land forces as may be necessary to maintain or restore international peace and security." According to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, "I don't think there is an expectation that this [UN] force is going to physically disarm Hezbollah.... I think it's a little bit of a misreading about how you disarm a militia. You have to have a plan, first of all, for the disarmament of the militia, and then the hope is that some people lay down their arms voluntarily." While Israel has demanded that peacekeepers be deployed along the Lebanese-Syrian border to prevent Hezbollah's re-armament by Syria and Iran, Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora stated on August 28, 2006 that the Lebanese Armed Forces have already been deployed along the border and that there is no need for an international presence there. Syria's President Bashar al-Asad had threatened earlier to close the border should peacekeepers take up positions close to Syria. In an interview with Dubai television, Asad stated that a possible peacekeeping force along the border "is an infringement on Lebanese sovereignty and a hostile position." Most analysts believe that the Lebanese army can do little to prevent the smuggling of arms to Hezbollah. International mediators have been working through diplomatic channels to free the Israeli corporal kidnapped by the Hamas military wing and two other groups on June 25 almost from that date.