UN renews UNIFIL mandate for one year
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The United Nations is extending its UNIFIL presence in Lebanon for an extra year at the behest of the Lebanese authorities.
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The UNIFIL forces in southern Lebanon
The United Nations Security Council on Wednesday renewed the mandate of the UN peacekeeping forces in Lebanon for one year, asking the UNIFIL to continue providing logistical support for the Lebanese army for another six months.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has been in the Lebanese South since 1978 as a "buffer" between Lebanon and the Israeli occupation as the two parties are technically still in a state of war.
The Security Council decided, at the request of Beirut, to extend the 10,000-strong force's mandate until August 2023.
The resolution was adopted by the council's 15 members, who stressed in particulate the "risk that violations of the cessation of hostilities could lead to a new conflict that none of the parties or the region can afford."
The Israeli occupation is notorious for continuously sending drones violating Lebanese airspace, bugging the Lebanese people and disturbing the silence of their nights for their reconnaissance operations.
The Israeli occupation also violates Lebanon's sovereignty by continuously using its airspace to launch aggression against Syria.
But the resolution stressed that the support was "temporary" and "should not be considered as a precedent... nor a long term solution." The resolution was extended until February 28, 2023.
![In a 2021 interview with Frontline by former US special representative James Jeffrey, he says he had "engaged with [HTS] via backchannels while serving in President Trump’s State Department. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Batoul Chamas)](https://alpha-en-media.almayadeen.net/media/image/2024/12/21/b4a69f2e-8682-43e4-9d37-49482b304ab3/3.png?v=2&format=webp "In a 2021 interview with Frontline by former US special representative James Jeffrey, he says he had \"engaged with [HTS] via backchannels while serving in President Trump’s State Department. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Batoul Chamas)")
