The United Nations said Thursday it was “working on” maintaining a presence in Lebanon once the mandate for its UNIFIL peacekeeping force expires at the end of the year.
– “In terms of the post-UNIFIL, we’re currently in the process of working on these options,” said Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, with the Lebanese government “very clear that they would want to keep a UN presence.”
– The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon has served as a peacekeeping force between Israel and Lebanon since 1978 but finds itself caught in the crossfire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah.
– Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war on March 2 when Tehran-backed militant group Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel to avenge the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli airstrikes.
– UNIFIL comprises nearly 8,200 troops from 47 countries. It has lost five troops in recent days: three Indonesian and two French.
– Lacroix told a press conference in Geneva that any future uniformed UN presence in southern Lebanon would have to be decided upon by the Security Council in New York.
– But, he said there were “a number of capacities…. which we have been providing” that Beirut would want to keep, such as monitoring, reporting, observing, and liaising.
– “A durable solution to the problem will have to take into account the security needs of Lebanon and of Israel,” he said.