UN Security Council to vote on UNIFIL mandate renewal

The United Nations Security Council will vote Monday on the future of the blue helmet peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon that has faced U.S. and Israeli opposition.

The Council will vote on a French-drafted compromise that would keep the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), deployed in 1978 to separate Israel and Lebanon, in place for one more year while it prepares to withdraw.

In the latest draft text seen by AFP, the Council would signal "its intention to work on a withdrawal of UNIFIL with the aim of making the Lebanese government the sole provider of security in southern Lebanon."

Lebanon has been grappling with the thorny issue of disarming Hezbollah, with Cabinet this month tasking the army with developing a plan to do so by the end of the year.

Under the truce, Israel was meant to completely withdraw from Lebanon, though it has kept forces in several areas it deems strategic and continues to conduct strikes across Lebanon. 

The resolution would extend the force's mandate until Aug. 31, 2026.

It was not clear if Washington, which wields a veto on the Security Council, would accept the compromise language, with a State Department spokesman previously telling AFP it would not comment on Council deliberations.

The text also contained language "condemning the incidents that affected United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon premises and forces, injuring several peacekeepers," a reference to Israeli strikes on UNIFIL positions that have caused injuries and damage. Israel was not specifically named.

Ahead of the vote, a senior U.N. official warned that "to completely eliminate [UNIFIL's] capacity at this point, or very quickly, would not serve anybody in the region," calling any abrupt withdrawal risky.

The official said UNIFIL had facilitated the deployment of 8,300 Lebanese Army troops to 120 locations, assisting with logistics, funds and even fuel as well as training support.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric last week called the force's support of Lebanon's army "critical," adding "we have always felt and known that UNIFIL is a presence of stability along the blue line."