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UN extends mandate for southern Lebanon peacekeeping force
The United Nations (UN) Security Council yesterday unanimously voted to extend the mandate of its peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon for another year.
The 15-member council adopted Resolution 2305, which will see the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) continue its work until August 2017. It is tasked with ensuring that the southern Lebanese border region with Israel is free of unauthorised weapons, personnel and assets. The resolution maintained the force’s ceiling at 15,000 personnel and asked UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to conduct a strategic review of the mission by February 2017.
The resolution expressed concern “at the limited progress made towards the establishment of a permanent cease-fire”. UN Security Council Resolution 1701 brought an end to the month-long Second Lebanon War between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006. However, border tensions have persisted and Hezbollah is thought to have significantly increased its rocket arsenal during the last ten years.
The resolution also urged all parties “to make every effort to ensure that the cessation of hostilities is sustained, exercise maximum calm and restraint and refrain from any action or rhetoric that could… destabilise the region”.
Ban Ki-moon praised UNIFIL for helping establish “the longest period of relative calm in decades” in the area, but warned that “calm should not be mistaken for progress”.
The UNIFIL force has been deployed in southern Lebanon since 1978. After 2006 it was significantly expanded in order to help the Lebanese Army extend its authority in southern Lebanon. However, Hezbollah has succeeded in maintaining a strong grip on the area.
Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon responded to yesterday’s UN Security Council vote. He said: “Hezbollah continues to build its terror infrastructures in South Lebanon and turns the villages in the region into terror centres… Public institutions such as hospitals, schools and prayer houses turned into terror centres and weapons storage.” He added: “it’s time to take Hezbollah out of south Lebanon and implement Resolution 1701.”