Aoun backs continued UNIFIL presence in south Lebanon

BEIRUT — President Joseph Aoun told the commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), General Diodato Abagnara, that Lebanon is committed "to maintaining the international force in the south of the country for as long as necessary for the full implementation of Resolution 1701, as well as to the full deployment of the Lebanese Army to the international borders."

Aoun also “stressed the importance of cooperation between the army, UNIFIL and residents of the towns and villages of the south,” amid some minor incidents in recent months between peacekeepers and residents.

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In south Lebanon, coexistence with UNIFIL turns bittersweet

U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, adopted in 2006 to end the war between Israel and Hezbollah, has yet to be fully implemented. Its provisions are now being revisited, given it is the basis of the current cease-fire agreement reached in November to end the latest war with Israel.

Discussions on renewing UNIFIL’s mandate began Monday, days ahead of a critical Security Council session examining the force’s future. Israel has increasingly signaled its opposition to keeping the peacekeepers in south Lebanon, while the United States has shown little enthusiasm for a new extension of their mandate without an expansion of its powers.

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