In Lebanon, UNIFIL vote looms as US runs short on patience

BEIRUT — The US is expected to support the renewal of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) mission for another year, but the international force is “not the answer” to Lebanon’s security woes, US Envoy Tom Barrack said today at the Lebanese presidential palace. Rather, he said Lebanon should look to its own armed forces for peacekeeping. 

“A billion dollars [spent on UNIFIL] a year, 22 years of advocacy and you’re in a swamp,” Barrack said. “They haven’t fired a bullet; they haven’t fired a shot. You’re in a worse dilemma than you’ve ever been with Israel and Hezbollah, and you want us to weigh in more with LAF [Lebanese Armed Forces]. LAF is the answer. Your answer is LAF. Your answer is not UNIFIL.”

Barrack’s comments come as the UN Security Council’s UNIFIL mission, which was renewed in August of last year, draws to an end and faces a new vote in coming days. Despite his criticisms, Barrack said the US will vote for a one-year renewal of the UNIFIL mandate. 

UNIFIL’s mission was first established in 1978 according to Security Council Resolutions 425 and 426. In July 2006, Resolution 1701 passed, ending the one-month war with Israel and greatly increasing the number of UNIFIL troops in Lebanon deployed along the border to a maximum of 15,000 to monitor the cessation of hostilities in the south, as well as to accompany, support and assist the Lebanese armed forces. Last year during the conflict with Israel, the number of UNIFIL personnel in South Lebanon was 10,000, according to a spokesperson at the time.

While experts told Breaking Defense they expect the vote to pass to extend the mission for one more year, conditions this year are unique and could see alterations to the mission’s mandate. It’s the first vote since the Nov. 27, 2024 US-mediated ceasefire agreement between Lebanon and Israel began, ending a year and one month of hostilities between Israeli forces and Lebanese Hezbollah that began shortly after Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel. The Lebanese government has since called for Hezbollah to be disarmed, a demand strongly opposed by the organization.

“The UNIFIL initial role was sort of suitable to the previous situation [before October 2023] where the UNIFIL was monitoring the two parties movements and violations in the previous status-quo situation,” Ali Bakir, a professor at Qatar University and non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative told Breaking Defense.

“Now that Israel occupied and destroyed parts of Lebanon in addition to the will of the international community, and the Lebanese government to pressure Hezbollah to disarm it, it will be very difficult for the UNIFIL to work with its previous mandate,” he said. “In fact, this situation might endanger its troops. Therefore, it would be interesting to see whether they will maintain the old mandate for one more year or change it.”

Retired Lebanese Armed Forces Gen. Wehbe Katicha said he expects the mandate to be renewed under new conditions, “including providing UNIFIL with modern military equipment that will enable it to monitor Hezbollah activities in the region, giving it some authority to enter sites that contain weapons or ammunitions [for Hezbollah] and giving it greater authority to support the Lebanese Army and cooperate on the operational level.”

Katicha added that should new conditions be added, they would not fall under the UN’s 7th chapter, therefore allowing peacekeepers the right of action in case of aggression.

And with the renewal only being for one year, it’s unclear what will happen with UNIFIL next year. RANE Global Security Analyst for the Middle East and North Africa Freddy Khoueiry said he expects this to be the final year of renewal.

“Israel, backed by the United States, argues that UNIFIL has outlived its usefulness,” he told Breaking Defense. “From Israel’s perspective, the mission failed to prevent Hezbollah’s entrenchment in southern Lebanon in the years leading up to the 2024 war, and with Hezbollah now weakened, it sees little justification for keeping the force in place.”