Impact of the geopolitical environment on the execution of the UNIFIL multinational operation in Lebanon

Abstract

The participation of a country in multinational operations is based on the established security and defense needs and interests stated in its strategic and normative documents. Through the participation of members of their military and other defense forces in multinational operations, countries confirm their interests and intentions to specifically contribute to world security and observance of international law and peace, whereby they also fulfill the internationally accepted obligations arising from the membership of the UN and other international organizations. The geopolitical environment of a particular country or region has a major impact on the forces' preparation for, execution of, and disengagement from a mission. The need for the execution of a particular operation most often results from conflicts that arise in regions with a very complex geopolitical environment. One of these regions is the Middle East, where the United Nations' forces are carrying out a multinational peace support operation - UNIFIL. Since the Serbian Armed Forces contribute their largest contingent of forces to the UNIFIL mission in Lebanon, the paper discusses the geopolitical environment of Lebanon and its impact on the execution of the mission.

Keywords

• geopolitical environment
• multinational operations
• peace support