Security Council approves final renewal of Unifil mandate

The council voted unanimously on Thursday to “extend for a final time the mandate of Unifil” until December 31, 2026.

The French-drafted resolution states that “an orderly and safe drawdown and withdrawal” must begin within a year of the mandate’s expiration and calls for Israel to withdraw forces north of the so-called Blue Line, the unofficial border between Israel and Lebanon.

“For a change, we have some good news coming from the United Nations,” Danny Danon, the Israeli ambassador to the UN, said after the vote.

“Today, the Lebanese government has a responsibility to take control of the area and to understand that they have to be there, not Hezbollah, or anyone else,” Danon stated.

Dorothy Shea, interim US ambassador to the UN, told the council that “the first ‘I’ in UNIFIL stands for ‘Interim’. The time has come for UNIFIL’s mission to end.”

Shea pointed to a “radically different” Lebanese security environment than that which existed a year ago (before Israel’s post-October 7 decimation of Hezbollah’s leadership and infrastructure), and said the US “will continue to work with the Lebanese Armed Forces to expand its capabilities as Lebanon carries out its critical work in disarming Hezbollah”.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun added that he hopes Unifil’s remaining time “will be an opportunity to rescue the Lebanese situation and stabilize the situation on our southern borders”.

However, despite the unanimous vote, some council’s 15 member states expressed dissatisfaction with the winding up of the mandate.

Even as China voted for the resolution, Geng Shuang, Beijing’s deputy UN ambassador, lashed out at the “total disregard of the tensions on the ground,” the “legitimate concerns of Lebanon as a host country,” and “the strong voices of the vast majority of the council members,” he claimed had been shown by Washington.

“This practice of imposing one’s will on others and taking ill-conceived and arbitrary actions is disappointing,” Geng said.