UN Security Council grants last extension to Lebanon peacekeeping mission

The United Nations Security Council on Thursday unanimously agreed to extend its long-running peacekeeping mission in Lebanon for a final time, setting the stage for the operation’s withdrawal by the end of 2027.

The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), created in 1978 to patrol Lebanon’s southern border with Israel, will continue its mandate until December 31, 2026. From that date, it will begin a year-long “orderly and safe drawdown and withdrawal,” carried out in consultation with the Lebanese government, according to the resolution.

The decision came after France drafted a compromise text acceptable to the United States, a veto-wielding member of the council. Acting U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Dorothy Shea told the meeting: ”The security environment in Lebanon is radically different than just one year ago, creating the space for Lebanon to assume greater responsibility,”.

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UNIFIL’s mandate was expanded in 2006, following a month-long war between Israel and Hezbollah, to allow peacekeepers to help the Lebanese army keep parts of the south free of weapons or armed personnel other than those of the Lebanese state.

That has sparked friction with Hezbollah, which effectively controls southern Lebanon despite the presence of the Lebanese army. Hezbollah is a heavily armed party that is Lebanon’s most powerful political force.

”Decades since UNIFIL’s mandate was extended, it is time to dispel the illusion. UNIFIL has failed in its mission and allowed Hezbollah to become a dangerous regional threat,” Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon said after the vote.

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The United States brokered a truce in November between Lebanon and Israel following more than a year of conflict sparked by the war in Gaza.

The U.S. is now seeking to promote a plan for Hezbollah’s disarmament. Washington is linking the plan to a phased Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon, while also promoting a U.S.- and Gulf-backed economic development zone in Lebanon’s south aimed at reducing Hezbollah’s reliance on Iranian funding.

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam welcomed the extension, noting that it ”reiterates the call for Israel to withdraw its forces from the five sites it continues to occupy, and affirms the necessity of extending state authority over all its territory.”