The United Nations Security Council on Thursday unanimously extended “for a final time” a long-running peacekeeping mission in Lebanon until the end of 2026, when the operation will then begin a year-long “orderly and safe drawdown and withdrawal.”
UNIFIL, the UN’s Interim Force in Lebanon that was established in 1978, patrols Lebanon’s southern border with Israel.
The 15-member council unanimously adopted a French-drafted resolution after a compromise was reached with the US, a veto-wielding member of the council.
It decided “to extend for a final time the mandate of UNIFIL.”
The resolution “requests UNIFIL to cease its operations on December 31, 2026, and to start from this date and within one year its orderly and safe... withdrawal... in close consultation with the government of Lebanon.”
It further said that the Lebanese government should be made “the sole provider of security in southern Lebanon.”
This will be the last time that the US will support an extension of UNIFIL, the Acting US Ambassador to the UN, Dorothy Shea, said.
“The security environment in Lebanon is radically different than just one year ago, creating the space for Lebanon to assume greater responsibility,” she told the council.
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 Armed Forces. Hezbollah is a heavily armed party that is Lebanon’s most potent political force.
Israel, US support UNIFIL dissolution
Both Israel and the US have opposed automatically renewing UNIFIL’s mandate, saying that the force had failed to curb Hezbollah after its mission was expanded in the wake of the Second Lebanon War in 2006, according to a prior Jerusalem Post report, which revealed that UNIFIL has not directly confronted the terrorist organization regarding its weapons.
“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 UN Ambassador Danny Danon said after the vote.
“Almost fifty years after UNIFIL’s creation, and nineteen years after its mandate was expanded following the Second Lebanon War, it is time to dissolve the force. The responsibility now lies with the Lebanese government,” he added.
The process is to be carried out in close consultation with the Lebanese government and in coordination with countries that will assist in the form of law enforcement staff. UN Secretary-General António Guterres is to keep the council regularly informed on the developments.
On Tuesday, US envoy Tom Barrack said that Lebanon plans to submit a proposal on Sunday, August 31, aimed at disarming Hezbollah.
This came following an announcement on Monday by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that laid out the possibility of a phased IDF withdrawal from Lebanon, as well as a rolling back of air force strikes there, should Hezbollah agree to the Lebanese government’s order to disarm.