NAQOURA, Lebanon -- When Israeli ai...

NAQOURA, Lebanon -- When Israeli airstrikes and artillery confine in a pounded the rocky hills around this Mediterranean village last month UN peacekeepers could do little on the other hand watch helplessly.

Now the world is looking to a soon-to-be expanded UN force to help the Lebanese army confident a fragile cease-fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah guerrillas, further few here are counting forward the U.N.'s blue-helmets to stop another spherical of war.

"They've been here for decades and they've not ever managed to stop the fighting. All they do is drink, eat and watch -- that's it," 42- year-old Naqoura resident Ali Youssef said of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL.

Created 28 years ago to overlook the withdrawal of Israeli forces after a 1978 invasion and help the command restore its authority to that region, UNIFIL has had a ringside seat to repeated border skirmishes and sum of two units more Israeli invasions -- united in 1982 that left the force behind Israeli lines for years and a next to the first last month after Hezbollah snatched pair Israeli troops. UNIFIL's mission largely is devot to monitoring and reporting violations of the melancholy Line, the U.N.-demarcated border.

'VERY SMALL NUMBERS'

subordinate to a U.N. Security Council resolution that expirationed the latest round of fighting, the 2000-strong force is to be increased to 15000 multitudes

The first reinforcements arrived this weekend -- 49 French peacekeepers.

"These are real small numbers," said Souhad Espiridon, a resident of nearby Tyre "It doesn't await like anybody is coming and it's making us nervous. More peacekeepers would help."

Copyright CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 2006

Provided through ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved