Future of UN force in Lebanon needs urgent discussion, says UN chief

UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix on Wednesday urged the UN Security Council to begin negotiations on the future of peacekeepers deployed in Lebanon, as Beirut campaigns for an extension to the mandate set to expire at the end of this year.

A UN peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL has been deployed in southern Lebanon since 1978 but the Security Council last year ordered the mission to begin withdrawing at the end of 2026. 

Since a new war erupted in March between Israel and Iran-backed Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, the Lebanese government has campaigned for an extension to UNIFIL's mandate, citing its role in monitoring hostilities and facilitating aid deliveries to villages in Israeli-occupied zones.   

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres earlier this year presented proposals for a continued uniformed UN presence in Lebanon but no action has been taken yet, Lacroix told Reuters in Beirut. 

"These proposals are on the table of the Security Council. There has been no movement in the Security Council until now, but I believe that the negotiations will begin ... shortly, in earnest," he said. 

"I think it would be better to have a decision soon rather than later, right? Because that would clarify also the horizon for us, certainly from the more limited point of view of our own planning," he said. 

FORCES OPERATE HOTLINE TO EASE TENSIONS

Diplomats say the US is not supportive of an extended mandate for UNIFIL, but Lacroix said it was important to focus on Lebanon’s request and that negotiations at the Security Council could yield a constructive outcome.

Some 7,500 UNIFIL peacekeepers are still deployed at about 50 positions in southern Lebanon, which would be expected to be handed over to Lebanese army troops if no new UN force is agreed. 

But since most of those posts lie in territory now occupied by the Israeli military, it remains unclear how Lebanese soldiers could deploy to take over the positions. 

Lacroix said that clarity on whether a new UN force would deploy to southern Lebanon would help UNIFIL make sure it does not "leave those positions prematurely before we know what could come next". 

In addition to facilitating aid deliveries and monitoring hostilities, the force operates a hotline to ease any tensions between the Lebanese and Israeli militaries. 

Lacroix said the deconfliction role was particularly crucial given the presence of Israeli troops in a self-declared security zone deep in Lebanese territory.

He said that Israeli and Lebanese troops in the same geographic area presented "the risk of escalation, the risk of incidents getting out of control" and that "there is a need for a third party to de-escalate".