US ambassador to UN to visit Lebanon next week
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz will visit Beirut early next week to discuss the issue of UNIFIL and the proposed solutions for the period that will follow the end of its mandate, Asharq al-Awsat newspaper reported.
The G7 foreign ministers had agreed Tuesday on "the need to avoid a security void" in Lebanon after UNIFIL pulls out.
They also backed "the need to move quickly toward a new security architecture" after the mandate of United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon expires at the end of the year.
Under U.S. pressure, the U.N. Security Council voted last year to end UNIFIL's mandate on December 31, 2026.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday that he had discussed the issue with President Emmanuel Macron and suggested that what replaces UNIFIL "doesn't have to be a military mission, it could be a civilian mission."
"We need a verification system trusted by everyone and trusted by both sides that both sides are complying with their obligations under the agreements that are in place," Rubio said.
A transitional mechanism utilizing UNIFIL forces is among the options on the table, a European diplomat said.
But this could require a U.N. Security Council resolution and thus run into an American veto, the diplomat warned.
The Europeans are also pushing a proposal for an international military coalition tasked with supporting the Lebanese Armed Forces in their mission to disarm Hezbollah.
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