Lebanon Asks France to Help Arrange International Security Presence as UNIFIL Exit Nears | Israel Politics Post
Lebanon Asks France to Help Arrange International Security Presence as UNIFIL Exit Nears
President Joseph Aoun told France's foreign minister Lebanon would prefer to simply extend UNIFIL's mandate, but is open to alternative arrangements to avoid a security vacuum once the peacekeeping force leaves.
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By Israel Politics Post Staff·Published
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun speaks with France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot at the Presidential Palace in Baabda · Source: Anwar Amro/AFP, via The Times of Israel
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun met with visiting French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot in Beirut on Saturday to discuss what comes after UNIFIL's mandate expires at the end of 2026, The Times of Israel reported. Barrot said he was in Lebanon examining "mechanisms for an international presence" in the south once the peacekeeping force departs.
Aoun told Barrot that Lebanon's clear preference is to simply extend UNIFIL's mandate, but said Beirut would accept alternative international security arrangements if that's what it takes to avoid a vacuum in the south and, crucially, to prevent direct military contact between Lebanese and Israeli forces.
According to a statement from the Lebanese presidency, a Lebanese military delegation will present Beirut's demands for ending Israeli military operations at trilateral talks scheduled for October 20 in Tampa, Florida. Those talks sit on top of a framework agreement signed June 26 that ties any further Israeli withdrawal to verified Hezbollah disarmament and the deployment of the Lebanese Armed Forces in the south, a sequence that has effectively stalled: Israel says Lebanon's military doesn't yet have the capability to take over security there, Lebanon blames continued Israeli strikes for making disarmament harder to carry out, and Hezbollah has said it won't disarm at all while Israeli forces remain on Lebanese territory.
The diplomatic push comes as a separate but related story is playing out on the ground: in the border village of Ibl al-Saqi, residents whose livelihoods depend on UNIFIL are bracing for the economic hit of its departure, a reminder that the force's exit carries consequences well beyond the security questions dominating talks in Beirut and Tampa.
