Italian General Diodato Abagnara. (Photo taken from his X account)
"It is with great honor and a profound sense of responsibility that I assume today the command of UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon)," said Italian General Diodato Abagnara on X, this Tuesday, June 24, who officially took over the UN force. "May this new chapter begin with a clear vision, renewed energy, and an unwavering sense of purpose. The hope for stability and a better future can and must prevail."
General Abagnara succeeded Spanish General Aroldo Lázaro Sáenz in the post of Mission Chief and UNIFIL Commander. His predecessor was appointed in February 2022. The new chief now heads a force, created in 1978, of about 10,000 peacekeepers from 47 contributing countries, mainly consisting of contingents from Indonesia, India, Ghana, Italy, Nepal and Malaysia, but also from Spain, France, China and Ireland.
Alongside the United States, France, Lebanon and Israel, UNIFIL is part of the "international monitoring committee" responsible for supervising the cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah, which came into effect on Nov. 27 last year. This truce ended over 13 months of war between the two sides and provided the implementation of Resolution 1701. On May 13, UNIFIL announced having discovered more than 225 weapon caches in the south since the truce. The Israeli army still occupies five points along the border and continues to bombard the south of the country. On June 24, a drone attack on a car in Kfar Dajjal killed three, according to the Health Ministry (Haitham Bakri, his son Mohammad, and his father Abdallah).
The appointment of Abagnara was officially announced in a statement on June 4, saying that the major general has 36 years of military service experience. He was recently the commander and president of the Military Technical Committee for Lebanon (MTC4L), created internationally. This committee currently includes eight members (Italy, Germany, Spain, France, the Netherlands, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union) as well as observer/partner and contributing countries, under the direction of Italy with a dual objective: to support the Lebanese Army, but also the Lebanese population through humanitarian initiatives. It operates in compliance with the existing United Nations resolutions and bilateral and international missions operating in Lebanese territory.
Abagnara takes office at a time when UNIFIL's mandate must be renewed by August, a procedure often controversial, with each party attempting to amend the functions of the peacekeepers, particularly Hezbollah, regarding the freedom of movement of patrols. This year, discussions are expected to be more challenging: some Security Council members, including the United States, seem to want to reconsider the mandate of the U.N. force by giving it more prerogatives, up to placing UNIFIL under Chapter VII of the U.N. Charter, which allows the use of force.
Incidents between UNIFIL and local residents have multiplied in certain areas of southern Lebanon since the cease-fire came into effect. Convoys of peacekeepers have notably been blocked or confronted in several areas of southern Lebanon by residents reproaching them for not being accompanied on their patrols by the Lebanese Army.
