Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam told United Nations chief Antonio Guterres on Monday that Lebanon needed a UN-sponsored international force to stay in the country’s south after the current UN peacekeeping mandate expires.
The creation of a new force to succeed UNIFIL was also on the agenda of a meeting last week in Paris between Aoun, French President Emmanuel Macron and King Abdullah II of Jordan.
Meeting Guterres at the UN headquarters in New York, Salam “stressed the importance of maintaining an international presence under the umbrella of the United Nations in the south in the post-UNIFIL phase”, according to a statement from the premier’s office. This should be in a way that “ensures the continuation of the functions of monitoring, reporting and liaison, contributes to preserving stability, and supports the process of extending the Lebanese state’s authority over all its territory”, Salam added, according to the statement. Last week, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun told AFP that Lebanon wanted a new force, European or otherwise, to prevent a security vacuum after the peacekeepers depart, but that “the best and most optimal option remains extending UNIFIL’s mandate”. France and Italy have said they want to set up a multinational coalition to succeed UNIFIL. In a June report, Guterres said peacekeepers would be needed after UNIFIL’s mission expires.
