UNIFIL to leave Lebanon at the end of 2026 generating new uncertainties amid tensions over Hezbollah’s disarmament
The UN Security Council has extended UNIFIL’s mandate for one final year, until 31 December 2026, after the United States rejected further extensions. Present in Lebanon since 1978, UN peacekeepers now number 10,800. President Joseph Aoun was grateful towards the UN mission, while Israel reiterated its misgivings.
Beirut (AsiaNews) – A witness to Lebanon's troubles with Israel since 1978, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which has become a national institution in almost 50 years, saw the UN Security Council extend its annual mandate yesterday for a 48th and final time, until 31 December 2026.
Faced with the risk of a US veto, hostile to any extension, the resolution specifies that this one-year extension, wrested by Paris from Washington, will be "the last”. UNIFIL will begin a gradual and safe withdrawal starting 31 December 2026, and will have one year to complete it.
Set up in 1978 to man a buffer zone between the Palestinian forces present in Lebanon and Israel (following the latter’s Operation Litani, 14-21 March 1978), UNIFIL is currently made up of 10,800 peacekeepers. Its area of operations is located south of the Litani River. It provides the Lebanese army with surveillance and support services.
Aoun's Thanks
President Joseph Aoun thanked the Security Council for this unanimous vote. He extended special thanks to France, who proposed Resolution 2790, for "its efforts”, as well as the United States for “understanding of Lebanon's circumstances”.
The government in Beirut, like its counterparts in some European capitals, feared that a hasty departure would create a security vacuum and encourage violations of the ceasefire agreement concluded on 27 November 2023, between Israel and Lebanon, to the benefit of Hezbollah, which entered the war against Israel in support of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, launched by Hamas in Gaza (7 October 2023).
This agreement explicitly refers to UN Resolution 1701, which specifically provides for “disarmament of all armed groups” in Lebanon, including Hezbollah. This remains a delicate process whose implementation will naturally take time, and which President Aoun is handling with extreme caution.
Israel has been critical of UNIFIL for failing to adequately document Hezbollah's violations. There is some truth in this, but this was due to the passive nature of its mandate. Its rules of engagement were strictly self-defence.
For Lebanon, Israel’s criticism is but an attempt to divert attention from its own violations. Since November 2023, 250 Hezbollah members have been killed in targeted drone attacks, while Israel continues to occupy five observation points inside Lebanon, has banned the reconstruction of 28 razed border villages, home once to an estimated population of 124,000, not to mention the almost daily violation of Lebanese airspace.
Resolution 2790, moreover, calls on Israel “to withdraw its forces north of the Blue Line”, the demarcation line established by the UN between Lebanon and Israel, “including from the five positions held in Lebanese territory”.
For the United States, the force has proven ineffective and too costly for the services it provides. Its annual budget is US$ 538 million, 25 per cent covered by the United States.
A tense regional context
The extension of UNIFIL's mandate comes at a time when Lebanon is urged to enforce UN Resolution 1701 and dismantle Hezbollah's military structure. Acting on 5 and 7 July, the Lebanese cabinet said that this would be done by the end of the year.
The disarmament will be carried out in accordance with a plan entrusted to the Lebanese army, the outlines of which are to be submitted to a cabinet meeting on 2 September.
However, Hezbollah has categorically rejected this plan, refusing to hand over its weapons to the Lebanese state without Israeli guarantees of reciprocity, something Lebanon has tried in vain to obtain through Tom Barrack’s mission.
Hezbollah’s Secretary-General, Sheikh Naim Qassem, has threatened Lebanon with a full-blown "civil insurrection" if force is used. As a concession, he backed the principle that all armed forces should be in the hands of state, but refused to provide a timetable or schedule.
With UNIFIL pulling out, Lebanon will be in direct contact with a military commission headed by a US officer from CENTCOM. Israel has occasionally expressed the wish that this commission evolve into a military-diplomatic committee, which would bring the Lebanese face to face with their Israeli counterparts.
Lebanon fears being dragged against its will into an indirect plan for separate "normalisation" with the Jewish state, even though it has accepted a peace plan agreed upon at the Arab summit in Beirut (2002), which notably provides for the recognition of a Palestinian state.
UNIFIL will be missed
Regardless of any political considerations, UNIFIL will undoubtedly be missed for economic and social reasons.
The force injects some US$ 80 million annually into the country’s economy, according to some studies, and employs hundreds of Lebanese. Cities like Nabatiyeh and Tyre depend on it for part of their prosperity.
UNIFIL also provides important health services to the population through its network of clinics, and ensures the transfer of technical expertise to rural areas. Likewise, it funds projects for local communities (schools, clinics, veterinary services), and includes a corps of deminers.