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LAST UPDATE | 28 Aug
THE UN SECURITY Council has voted to renew the Irish involved peacekeeping mission in south Lebanon but also that it will end in 2027.
The latest resolution to be voted saw the mission come to an end on 31 December, 2026 with a proposed orderly withdrawal.
Some 10,800 peacekeepers, including those from the Irish Defence Forces, have been acting as a buffer between Israel and Lebanon since 1978.
To date, over 30,000 personnel from the Defence Forces have served in Lebanon. 47 Irish soldiers have been killed on the mission.
However, the usual renewal of their mandate, which expires on Sunday, has faced hostility this year from Israel and its American ally, who want them to leave with the US threatening its veto on the UN Security Council.
The mandate for the mission is to assist the Lebanese army in ensuring that there are no armed groups in the south.
That has failed, given the volume of activity by Hezbollah in the area. However, on multiple visits to Lebanon, The Journal has seen the positive impact of the UN mission on the local population.
Israel and the US allege that UNIFIL has not done enough to assist the Lebanese army in dismantling Hezbollah in the area.
The Council will now debate a French-drafted compromise that would keep the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in place until the end of next year while it prepares to withdraw.
If this proposal works the mission will extend into 2027 and then all troops will begin their withdrawal.
Irish diplomats and Minister Simon Harris were in talks with various countries last night. Harris had been in discussions with France and Austria overnight as Irish Department of Foreign Affairs officials were working in the background.
The US had been a driving force, in connection with its ally Israel, to shelve the mission. They had been pushing for an almost immediate winding up of the mission.
A statement from Simon Harris welcomed the renewal this afternoon.
“The Defence Forces have participated proudly in this mission for over forty years and contributed significantly to stabilising the region during that time. 47 members of the Defence Forces have made the ultimate sacrifice in the pursuit of peace in Lebanon and we remember them and their families at this time.
“I have long argued that the presence of UNIFIL in southern Lebanon is vital to maintaining peace and security, and providing support to the Lebanese government and the region more broadly. The situation on the ground is stable but fragile, as I saw for myself when I visited Lebanon earlier in the year,” he added.
Harris said that he and Irish diplomats had been engaging with European partners over the last number of months as behind-the-scenes discussions on the renewal progressed.
He paid particular tribute to France who, as penholders, led the negotiations on the UNIFIL resolution at the UN Security Council. He described the negotiations as “an often challenging process”.
“Together with military management, I and my officials have been anticipating a number of scenarios that might have emerged from today’s meeting of the UNSC.
“On foot of the decision now taken, we will continue operations in the region in fulfilment of the Mission mandate until the end of the 2026, following which we will work with partners to ensure an orderly wind down of the Mission.
“All the time, the safety and security of our personnel serving in UNIFIL will be of paramount importance to myself and to Government,” Harris added.
The US had initially then considered a one-year extension while France, which had led negotiations to convince the US against the move, was pushing for a simple “intention” to work towards a withdrawal of UNIFIL.
But faced with a possible US veto, and following several proposals and a Monday postponement of the vote, the latest draft resolution schedules the end of the mission in 16 months’ time at the end of 2026, followed by withdrawal within a year.
The Council “decides to extend for a final time the mandate of UNIFIL as set out by resolution 1701 (2006) until 31 December 2026 and to start an orderly and safe drawdown and withdrawal from 31 December 2026 and within one year,” the text says.
At that point the Lebanese army will be solely responsible for ensuring security in the country’s south.
With US envoy Tom Barrack saying on Tuesday that Washington would approve a one-year extension, it remained unclear what the US position will be later.
Under a truce that ended a recent war between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, Beirut’s army has been deploying in south Lebanon and dismantling the militant group’s infrastructure there.
As part of the ceasefire, and under pressure from Washington, the plan is for Hezbollah’s withdrawal to be complete by the end of the year.
Last week Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called for the UN peacekeepers to remain, arguing that any curtailment of UNIFIL’s mandate “will negatively impact the situation in the south, which still suffers from Israeli occupation.”
The latest draft resolution also “calls on the Government of Israel to withdraw its forces north of the Blue Line” – the UN-established demarcation line between Lebanon and Israel – “including from the five positions held in Lebanese territory.”
The Irish Defence Forces Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Rossa Mulcahy, speaking on Newstalk radio, welcomed news of the agreement and explained that the Irish troops are continuing to monitor the situation in Bint Jbeil and surrounding parts which are Hezbollah strongpoints.
“So we work on a daily basis with the Lebanese Armed Forces, and there is a lot expected of them in the coming year, year and a half, when they would have to step up in a different way and take the lead, if you want, in those operations.”
He said that the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) were engaged in operations since the cessation of fighting between Israeli forces and the Hezbollah but said the LAF would be expected to increase their activities.
“Part of that agreement of that cessation was that the Lebanese army would deploy up to 6000 additional troops into the into the universal area of operation, or the South of Lebanon.
“That work is ongoing, and the work the Lebanese army are undertaking is in close cooperation with UNIFIL armed forces and indeed our Irish Battalion on the ground, our Irish Polish Battalion on the ground in a critical area of Lebanon and Bint Jbeil area.
“So we work on a daily basis with the Lebanese Armed Forces, and there is a lot expected of them in the coming year, year and a half, when they would have to step up in a different way and take the lead, if you want, in those operations,” he added.
He said that the agreement is that the LAF will work to disarm Hezbollah and that Irish and other troops will assist them in this work.
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