UNIFIL Mandate In the aftermath, Israel declared that the IDF would remain in southern Lebanon until they had a firm guarantee that Palestinians would never be allowed to return to this region. On 17 Mar 78 the representative of Lebanon spoke before the United Nations Security Council and demanded an immediate Israeli withdrawal. This set the stage for an emergency session of the UN Security Council and on 19 Mar 78 the Council decided to dispatch a UN Peacekeeping Force to this area and adopted Resolution 425, which established the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). Its mandate: - to insert UN Peacekeeping Forces between the IDF and the PLO guerrillas to confirm that military action against Lebanese territorial integrity had ceased;
- to confirm the withdrawal of the IDF;
- to restore international peace and security in the Area of Operations (AO) and to ensure it was not used for hostile acts of any kind; and
- to assist the government of Lebanon in restoring its authority and sovereignty in the area south of the Litani River where pro-Israeli Christian villagers have long been at odds with Palestinians in neighbouring camps.
To enable UNIFIL to fulfil its responsibilities, it was initially estimated that it must deploy at least five battalions each of about 600 all ranks, in addition to logistics units, for a total strength in the order of 4,000. MGen Emmanual Alexander Erskine of Ghana, Chief of Staff of the United nations Truce Supervisory Organization in the Middle East (UNTSO), was appointed Commander of the Force in Lebanon. Based on an urgent appeal from the UN Secretary General during the second week of Apr 78, Canada agreed to provide a signal unit to UNlFIL for an interim period not to extend beyond 1 Oct 78.
| 
