BEIRUT: Lebanese President Joseph Aoun welcomed on Friday France and Italy’s efforts to set up a multinational coalition to succeed the UN peacekeeping force in his country, whose mandate expires at the end of the year.
The peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, UNIFIL, is made up of roughly 7,500 personnel from nearly 50 countries, and has been in place since 1978, although its presence has not prevented repeated outbreaks of conflict.
Last August, the UN Security Council, under US pressure, decided to end UNIFIL’s mandate on December 31, 2026.
In a statement, Aoun called the initiative “a sincere expression of the international commitment to supporting Lebanon’s sovereignty and stability.”
On Thursday, after meeting with Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni, French President Emmanual Macron said that France and Italy “want to launch a coalition for the post-UNIFIL arrangement, obviously in coordination with the European Union and the United Nations, to strengthen Lebanon’s sovereignty and that of its armed forces” and prevent its territory from being “a foothold for regional escalation.”
France is one of UNIFIL’s largest contributing countries.
Aoun also stressed Lebanon’s eagerness for “any international formula that strengthens the capabilities of its armed forces, preserves its territorial integrity, and prevents its land from becoming an arena for escalation or regional tensions.”
UN chief Antonio Guterres has said that peacekeepers will be needed in Lebanon after the mandate of the current mission expires, an suggestion likely to face opposition from the United States and Israel.
Earlier this month, he proposed three options ranging from nearly 2,000 to more than 5,500 UN personnel to monitor the ceasefire between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, and support the Lebanese armed forces.
Hezbollah chief says Israel must ‘unconditionally’ leave Lebanon
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem on Friday said Israel has “no option” but to unconditionally withdraw from Lebanese areas it occupies, and he rejected any normalization in ties between the countries.
“Israel has no option but to withdraw completely from every inch of our Lebanese land... Israel must leave unconditionally,” he said in a televised address to tens of thousands of supporters marking Ashura.
As Lebanese and Israeli officials hold direct talks in Washington, Qassem said his group would accept “no normalization, no cancelation of the state of hostility, no gains for Israel, and no partial presence on Lebanese soil... Israel must leave humiliated and defeated, and that is what will happen.”
