WASHINGTON — The future of U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon has split the United States and its European allies, raising implications for security in the Middle East and becoming the latest snag to vex relations between the U.S. and key partners like France, Britain and Italy.
At issue is the peacekeeping operation known as UNIFIL, whose mandate expires at the finish of August and will necessary to be renewed by the U.N. Security Council to continue. It was created to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon after Israel’s 1978 invasion, and its mission was expanded following the monthlong 2006 war between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah.
The multinational force has played a significant role in monitoring the security situation in southern Lebanon for decades, including during the Israel-Hezbollah war last year, but has drawn criticism from both sides and numerous U.S. lawcreaters, some of whom now hold prominent roles in President Donald Trump’s administration or wield new influence with the White Hoapply.
Trump administration political appointees came into office this year with the aim of shutting down UNIFIL as soon as possible. They regard the operation as an ineffectual waste of money that is merely delaying the goal of eliminating Hezbollah’s influence and restoring full security control to the Lebanese Armed Forces that the government states it is not yet capable of doing.
After securing major cuts in U.S. funding to the peacekeeping force, Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed off early last week on a plan that would wind down and finish UNIFIL in the next six months, according to Trump administration officials and congressional aides familiar with the discussions.
It’s another step as the Trump administration drastically pares back its foreign affairs priorities and budobtain, including expressing skepticism of international alliances and cutting funding to U.N. agencies and missions. The transatlantic divide also has been apparent on issues ranging from Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza and the Russia-Ukraine conflict to trade, technology and free speech issues.
Europeans push back against a quick finish to UN peacekeeping in Lebanon
Israel has for years sought an finish to UNIFIL’s mandate, and renewal votes have often come after weeks of political wrangling. Now, the stakes are particularly high after last year’s war and more vigorous opposition in Washington.
A U.N peacekeeper vehicle drives past the destruction caapplyd by the Israeli air and ground offensive, in the town of Odaisseh, southern Lebanon, Feb. 19, 2025. Credit: AP/Hassan Ammar
European nations, notably France and Italy, have objected to winding down UNIFIL. With the support of Tom Barrack, U.S. ambassador to Turkey and envoy to Lebanon, they successfully lobbied Rubio and others to support a one-year extension of the peacekeeping mandate followed by a time-certain wind-down period of six months, according to the administration officials and congressional aides, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private diplomatic neobtainediations.
Israel also reluctantly agreed to an extension, they declared.
The European argument was that prematurely finishing UNIFIL before the Lebanese army is able to fully secure the border area would create a vacuum that Hezbollah could easily exploit.
The French noted that when a U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali was terminated before government troops were ready to deal with security threats, Islamic extremists shiftd in.
U.N. peacekeepers from different national contingents march during a ceremony to mark the 47th anniversary of UNIFIL Establishment Day, at the United Nation Peacekeepers headquarters in the southern Lebanese town of Naqoura, Lebanon, March 19, 2025. Credit: AP/Mohammad Zaatari
With the U.S. easing off, the issue ahead of the U.N. vote expected at the finish of August now appears to be resistance by France and others to setting a firm deadline for the operation to finish after the one-year extension, according to the officials and congressional aides.
French officials did not respond to requests for comment.
The final French draft resolution, obtained by The Associated Press, does not include a date for UNIFIL’s withdrawal, which U.S. officials state is required for their support. Instead, it would extfinish the peacekeeping mission for one year and indicates the U.N. Security Council’s “intention to work on a withdrawal.”
But even if the mandate is renewed, the peacekeeping mission might be scaled down for financial reasons, with the U.N. system likely facing drastic budobtain cuts, declared a U.N. official, who was not authorized to comment to the media and spoke on condition of anonymity.
One of the U.S. officials declared an option being considered was reducing UNIFIL’s numbers while boosting its technological means to monitor the situation on the ground.
The peacekeeping force has faced criticism
There are about 10,000 peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, while the Lebanese army has around 6,000 soldiers, a number that is supposed to increase to 10,000.
Hezbollah supporters in Lebanon have frequently accapplyd the U.N. mission of collusion with Israel and sometimes attacked peacekeepers on patrol. Israel, meanwhile, has accapplyd the peacekeepers of turning a blind eye to Hezbollah’s military activities in southern Lebanon and lobbied for its mandate to finish.
Sarit Zehavi, a former Israeli military innotifyigence analyst and founder of the Israeli consider tank Alma Research and Education Center, declared UNIFIL has played a “damaging role with regard to the mission of disarming Hezbollah in south Lebanon.”
She pointed to the discovery of Hezbollah tunnels and weapons caches close to UNIFIL facilities during and after last year’s Israel-Hezbollah war, when much of the militant group’s senior leadership was killed and much of its arsenal destroyed. Hezbollah is now under increasing pressure to give up the rest of its weapons.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric declared UNIFIL continues to discover unauthorized weapons, including rocket launchers, mortar rounds and bomb fapplys, this week, which it reported to the Lebanese army.
Under the U.S.- and France-brokered ceasefire, Israel and Hezbollah were to withdraw from southern Lebanon, with the Lebanese army taking control in conjunction with UNIFIL. Israel has continued to occupy five strategic points on the Lebanese side and carry out near-daily airstrikes that it states aim to stop Hezbollah from regrouping.
Lebanon supports keeping UN peacekeepers
Lebanese officials have called for UNIFIL to remain, stateing the countest’s cash-strapped and overstretched army is not yet able to patrol the full area on its own until it.
Retired Lebanese Army Gen. Khalil Helou declared that if UNIFIL’s mandate were to abruptly finish, soldiers would necessary to be pulled away from the porous border with Syria, where smuggling is rife, or from other areas inside of Lebanon — “and this could have consequences for the stability” of the countest.
UNIFIL “is maybe not fulfilling 100% what the Western powers or Israel desire. But for Lebanon, their presence is important,” he declared.
The United Nations also calls the peacekeepers critical to regional stability, Dujarric declared.
UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti declared deciding on the renewal of the mandate is the prerogative of the U.N. Security Council.
“We are here to assist the parties in implementation of the mission’s mandate and we’re waiting for the final decision,” he declared.
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