After UNIFIL: Lebanon’s search for a post-2026 security framework

Report by Lara El Hachem, English adaptation by Mariella Succar

Nearly 48 years after the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was deployed in southern Lebanon, Lebanese officials are increasingly wary of the vacuum its departure could leave when its mandate expires at the end of 2026.

Although UNIFIL was established as a temporary force, ongoing tensions with Israel and the creation of buffer zones have generated broad political consensus in Lebanon on the need to maintain an international presence in the south, even after the mission’s mandate ends.

This led to a meeting of the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee, attended by the UNIFIL representative in Lebanon and relevant government officials.

The Foreign Ministry has called for the continued presence of an international force under a United Nations mandate. 

Among the proposals presented to the committee is assigning monitoring and documentation duties to U.N. Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) observers already deployed in Lebanon to monitor the armistice line, once UNIFIL withdraws. 

Under this plan, operational responsibilities on the ground would fall to the Lebanese Army, which is expected to have assumed full control.

The Defense Ministry, for its part, reaffirmed Lebanon’s commitment to U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 and to extending state authority in the south through the Lebanese Army. 

This position was echoed by Lebanese Forces MP Pierre Bou Assi, who said he had been briefed on conditions on the ground by both the army and UNIFIL.

At the same time, the Foreign Ministry is working through Lebanon’s mission to the United Nations to mobilize international support for a post-UNIFIL framework, stressing that Lebanon, as the host country, is a key stakeholder in any decision. 

Lebanese officials are also looking to the U.N. secretary-general’s report due in June for insight into possible alternatives, while acknowledging that the final decision extends beyond Lebanon alone.

Officials say Lebanon faces 11 challenging months of diplomatic efforts to reach a formula that preserves an international presence in the south. 

The United States has not proposed deploying its own forces and has also shown no willingness to endorse a European proposal for a joint European force to assume security responsibilities in southern Lebanon. 

U.S. officials are seen as unwilling to give European countries a free hand, while Israel is widely viewed as opposed to any expanded French role along its border.

Within Lebanese political circles, there is growing concern that international cover for southern Lebanon could be lifted under U.S. and Israeli pressure, leaving the Lebanese Army alone to face Israel without an international legal framework.