The UNIFIL in southern Lebanon has some 7,500 personnel from nearly 50 countriesImage: Hussein Malla/AP Photo/picture alliance
Human Rights Watch has called on the United Nations to keep its international peacekeepers’ force in Lebanon, whose mandate ends this year.
The UNIFIL in southern Lebanon has been in place since 1978 to confirm Israeli withdrawal from the Arab country. It has some 7,500 personnel from nearly 50 countries.
Despite its presence, Lebanon has seen various wars between Israel and the pro-Iranian Hezbollah group, as well as Israeli ground invasions.
In August last year, the UN Security Council decided to end UNIFIL’s mandate on December 31, 2026, amid growing US pressure.
“Pulling the plug on UNIFIL without a robust international force in place would effectively abandon millions of Lebanese civilians to an uncertain and potentially disastrous fate,” said Louis Charbonneau, HRW’s UN director said in a statement issued last week.
“The peacekeepers are a crucial deterrent against attacks on civilians and human rights abuses,” he added.
HRW argued that since the decision to end UNIFIL’s mandate preceded this year’s war and the subsequent Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon, the decision should be revised.
Hezbollah dragged Lebanon into the wider Middle East conflict on March 2 when it attacked Israel, in retaliation for US and Israeli attacks on Iran. This led to a wide Israeli bombing campaign and a ground invasion which has killed over 4,300 people in Lebanon.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun had last month also called on UNIFIL to stay beyond their mandate.