Qualified majority of 86 Lebanese MPs calls for UNIFIL mandate extension

With UNIFIL’s mandate set to end on Dec. 31, 2026, a qualified majority of Lebanese MPs is calling for an extension, arguing that its departure under current conditions risks creating a “security vacuum” in southern Lebanon. A legal study supporting the extension was submitted Tuesday to President Joseph Aoun and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.

Signed by 86 MPs, the document calls for extending the U.N. force’s mandate or, failing that, “presenting alternatives” to prevent such a vacuum. The parliamentary delegation presented its arguments to the president and parliament speaker, opposition MP Melhem Khalaf said. The delegation included three MPs from the Amal Movement: Mohammad Khawaja, Qassem Hashem and Michel Moussa.

Resolution 2790 ‘impossible to implement’

The document specifically addresses U.N. Security Council Resolution 2790, which called in August 2025 for a final renewal of UNIFIL’s mandate before its withdrawal from southern Lebanon.

The U.N. force has been present there since 1978, following the first Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon during the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990).

The document notes “major difficulties” in implementing certain provisions of the resolution, stressing that the international force’s “withdrawal” from southern Lebanon “assumes that Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory has been confirmed.”

“This must be accompanied by the handover of UNIFIL positions to the Lebanese Army and the restoration of Lebanese state authority over its entire territory. However, today, it is impossible to implement these interconnected obligations, especially since UNIFIL has 33 positions along the Blue Line. If it withdraws, Resolution 2790 requires that these be handed over to the Lebanese state. But how could they be handed over to the Lebanese state when these areas are currently occupied?” Khalaf said.

Over 600 square kilometers remain occupied by Israel in southern Lebanon following the resumption of Israeli attacks last March.

“It is therefore not possible to implement Resolution 2790; if it is carried out, we would expose the South to the gravest dangers, which would take the form of a vacuum. And this vacuum today would have serious consequences for Lebanon,” he added, describing UNIFIL as a “U.N. protective umbrella for our citizens there.”

The delegation told Aoun that “alternatives have been considered in case it is impossible to maintain UNIFIL in its current form, in order to avoid any security vacuum and preserve stability.”

The president and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam have already warned in recent weeks of the risk of a “security vacuum” in southern Lebanon after UNIFIL departs. Under pressure from the United States, the Security Council decided in August 2025 to end the peacekeepers' mandate on Dec. 31, 2026.

In an interview with L'Orient-Le Jour published on Monday, French Ambassador to Lebanon Patrick Durel stated that the "fear of a vacuum in southern Lebanon is real."