Salam emphasizes providing 'appropriate environment' for UNIFIL in meeting with new commander

BEIRUT — While meeting a delegation from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) headed by the new peacekeeping force's Commander General Diodato Abagnara on Tuesday, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam emphasized the Lebanese government's keenness to provide the appropriate environment that allows UNIFIL to fully implement its mandate, according to the state-run National News Agency (NNA).

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.

Salam and Abagnara reviewed the situation on the ground in the south, the implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, and the existing cooperation between UNIFIL and the Lebanese Army, especially in terms of intensifying coordination and joint operations. The meeting also touched on the emerging challenges facing the international forces' missions.

The prime minister stated the Lebanese government's “full commitment to Resolution 1701 and its keenness to provide the appropriate environment that allows UNIFIL to fully implement its mandate,” stressing “the importance of preserving the safety of its personnel.”

Salam also said that “Lebanon had officially sent a letter to the United Nations requesting the extension of UNIFIL's mandate for an additional year ending on Aug. 31, 2026, in line with the Lebanese government's decision of May 14, 2025.”

Moreover, he stressed that "achieving full stability in the South cannot be realized without Israel’s complete withdrawal from Lebanese territories and an end to its aggressions."

Meeting with defense minister

Defense Minister Michel Menassa also met with the head of UNIFIL in his office in Yarzeh, Tuesday for an introductory visit, according to NNA.

During the meeting, Abagnara emphasized UNIFIL's “commitment to continue implementing its mandate in south Lebanon, in coordination with the Lebanese Armed Forces.”

Menassa welcomed his guest and congratulated him on his assumption of the UNIFIL command, stating “Lebanon's full commitment to Resolution 1701” and stressing “the need to intensify international pressure on the Israeli enemy to fully withdraw from southern Lebanon, to enable the Lebanese Army to complete its deployment on all Lebanese territories in the south.”

Both Menassa and Abagnara expressed “the need to extend the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) next August without any change in its tasks.”

Abagnara officially succeeded Spanish General Aroldo Lázaro Sáenz in the post of Mission Chief and UNIFIL Commander around a week ago. On Monday, President Joseph Aoun met with Abagnara in Baabda and the latter also went to Bustros Palace for a "courtesy visit" with Foreign Minister Joe Rajji.