{"id":254587,"date":"2026-08-18T15:03:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T15:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/254587\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T15:03:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T15:03:08","slug":"lebanons-aoun-seeks-unifil-extension-despite-failure-to-prevent-hezbollah-activ","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/254587\/","title":{"rendered":"Lebanon\u2019s Aoun seeks UNIFIL extension despite failure to prevent Hezbollah activ"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Lebanon\u2019s \u201cfirst option\u201d is to extend the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which is due to expire at the end of the year, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/middle-east\/article-905256\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Lebanese President Joseph Aoun<\/a> told a delegation of 20 lawmakers, Lebanese media reported on Monday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">\u201cIf the mandate is not extended, the second option would be to adopt a formula ensuring the continued presence of international forces in the south, within an appropriate legal framework, alongside and in coordination with the Lebanese Army,\u201d Aoun said, stressing that UNIFIL\u2019s presence was essential for stability in the country\u2019s south.<\/p>\n<p>Despite Aoun\u2019s support for the UN peacekeeping forces, UNIFIL has long been criticized for failing to take action against <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/middle-east\/article-905578\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Hezbollah<\/a>\u2019s military buildup in southern Lebanon, Resolution 1701, which was adopted in August 2006, called for the peacekeepers to assist the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/israel-news\/defense-news\/article-905314\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Lebanese Armed Forces<\/a> \u201cin taking steps towards the establishment between the Blue Line and the Litani river of an area free of any armed personnel, assets and weapons other than those of the Government of Lebanon and of UNIFIL deployed in this area.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam also reportedly told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/middle-east\/article-903659\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres<\/a> that Lebanon wants the mandate extended, and Lebanese media said Guterres said he understood the need to maintain the UN\u2019s work.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">Human rights organizations have also spoken out against plans to end UNIFIL\u2019s presence. Louis Charbonneau, UN director at Human Rights Watch, said last week that \u201cPulling the plug on UNIFIL without a robust international force in place would effectively abandon millions of Lebanese civilians to an uncertain and potentially disastrous fate.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">&#8220;UN missions may not be a lasting solution,&#8221; Charbonneau added, &#8220;but the peacekeepers are a crucial deterrent against attacks on civilians and human rights abuses.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lebanon\u2019s \u201cfirst option\u201d is to extend the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":254588,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[32],"tags":[100,849,1493,93,3484,18027],"class_list":["post-254587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lebanon","tag-hezbollah","tag-joseph-aoun","tag-lebanese-armed-forces","tag-lebanon","tag-unifil","tag-united-nations-interim-force-in-lebanon"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117117124802131794","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254587\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}