Caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib faces an increasingly challenging task. Behind the scenes at United Nations headquarters in New York, Lebanon, under pressure from Hezbollah and represented by Bou Habib, is currently embroiled in an intense tug-of-war. This struggle comes just days before the imminent renewal of the mandate for the UN Peacekeeping Forces operating along the southern border.Initially, Bou Habib was tasked with leading negotiations, seeking support from Russia and China. The objective was to eliminate Article 16 from Resolution 2650 — a provision that extended the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon’s (UNIFIL) mandate until Aug. 31, 2023.Introduced last year at the behest of Western powers, this paragraph grants the UN force the authority to conduct its mission « without prior authorization » and «...