The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (unifil) was beefed up significantly in the wake of last summer’s war between Hezbollah and Israel; its mandate at the time was to maintain peace in southern Lebanon, monitor the cessation of hostilities and provide assistance to the Lebanese government when needed.

Nowhere in unifil’s job description did it mention employing Hezbollah terrorists to act as policy advisers and bodyguards.

Less than a year later, however, that is precisely what is happening. This week, the Christian Science Monitor reported that unifil forces are now collaborating with Shiite Hezbollah terrorists for protection against attacks thought to be carried out by Sunni terrorist groups.

The bizarre arrangement comes on the heels of two recent vehicle bombings carried out by suspected Sunni al Qaeda terrorists. On June 23, six Spanish and Colombian unifil soldiers were killed and three more wounded when a bomb blasted their armored personnel carrier to the side of the road near Metulla. Less than a month later, on July 16, six Tanzanian soldiers survived a second attack north of Tyre. The bombings followed intelligence warnings that UN forces should expect attacks from Sunni terror groups, including al Qaeda affiliates and Global Jihad.

unifil’s response to these attacks is hard to fathom. Rather than use the more than 13,000 well-armed soldiers stationed throughout southern Lebanon, unifil leaders have employed Hezbollah terrorists to act as bodyguards and policy advisers against attacks from Sunni terrorists.

“According to unifil sources, intelligence agents from Italy, France and Spain met with Hezbollah representatives in the southern city of Sidon in April. As a result, some Spanish peacekeepers subsequently were ‘escorted’ on some of their patrols by Hezbollah members in civilian vehicles,” reported the Monitor July 24. The lunacy doesn’t end there.

The day after the six peacekeepers were killed in June, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos called Manuchehr Mottaki, the foreign minister of Iran, Hezbollah’s primary sponsor. It seems that phone call made a difference: “According to a Hezbollah official in south Lebanon, there has been at least one meeting between the Shiite party and Spanish unifil officers since the bombing” (ibid.).

The UN’s courting of Hezbollah will not be without hard consequences. Though Hezbollah’s violent activities may have quieted for now and the group may be gladly working with UN forces against Sunni terrorists, this Iranian-sponsored terrorist organization remains one of the deadliest in the world. News reports show that even now, Hezbollah is restocking its shelves, retraining its soldiers and repositioning its missile launchers in preparation for another war with Israel.

Hezbollah-inflicted violence is imminent, and the actions of unifil are only serving to fuel the ambition of this Shia terrorist group. Regrettably, it will likely be Israel that suffers the deadly consequences of the UN’s foolish fling with Hezbollah.