The UN security council has voted to extend the body’s peacekeeping mission in Lebanon for a further 16 months, but ordered it finished at the end of 2026 under Israeli and US pressure.
UNSC members voted unanimously on Thursday to extend the mandate for the UN interim force in Lebanon (Unifil) ahead of its expiration on Sunday, prompting relief from Lebanese officials who rely on it. The approved resolution said Unifil would begin an “orderly and safe withdrawal” of its 10,800 peacekeepers from Lebanon in December 2026.
The planned withdrawal will end the more than 47-year-long peacekeeping mission. Initially created in 1978 to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops from south Lebanon, Unifil’s soldiers patrol the shared border between Israel and Lebanon.
The force has been tasked with monitoring and reporting violations of the November ceasefire between Hezbollah and Lebanon, so the Lebanese army can enforce the terms of the agreement.
Thursday’s UN resolution said it aimed to make the Lebanese government “the sole provider of security” in south Lebanon, and called for Israel to withdraw its forces. Israel has continued to occupy at least five points in south Lebanon and carry out hundreds of airstrikes in violation of the ceasefire, which it said were done to prevent Hezbollah from rebuilding its military infrastructure.
The vote came after months of pressure by the Israeli and US governments, who have made ending the Unifil mission a priority.
After the vote, the US ambassador to the UN, Dorothy Shea, said it was the last time the US would extend the Unifil mission. “The United States notes that the first ‘i’ in Unifil stands for ‘interim’. The time has come for Unifil’s mission to end,” she said.
The decision was also praised by the Israeli representative to the UN, Danny Danon, who said: “For a change, we have some good news coming from the UN.”
Under the presidency of Donald Trump, the US has moved closer to Israel’s position on Unifil. Israel has long considered Unifil to provide political cover to Hezbollah by failing to adequately disarm the militia in southern Lebanon since the end of the 2006 war, and has pushed for the mission to be disbanded.
Israel attacked Unifil positions throughout the war with Hezbollah, injuring peacekeepers as a result. Unifil’s mandate means it is only a monitoring force and cannot use force except in self-defence. Instead, violations are reported to the Lebanese army, which is leading the disarmament of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
Peacekeepers have also come under pressure from Hezbollah, with residents loyal to the group in south Lebanon frequently stopping patrols, throwing stones at military vehicles and on one occasion, slapping a peacekeeper.
The Lebanese state has relied on Unifil to help create a buffer with Israel and support its under-equipped army to reassert state control over south Lebanon. The prime minister, Nawaf Salam, praised the UN resolution, saying it “reiterates the call for Israel to withdraw its forces from the five sites it continues to occupy, and affirms the necessity of extending state authority over all its territory”.
Other nations involved, such as France and Italy, objected to the eventual withdrawal of peacekeepers, saying it could hamstring the Lebanese army’s ability to establish itself in south Lebanon.
The army will next week present a plan to disarm Hezbollah. It wants to do so in a way that does not provoke a confrontation with the well-armed group and preserves civil peace in Lebanon.