European and Arab military chiefs are meeting in Paris to assess the Lebanese Armed Forces’ needs and discuss the looming end of the United Nations peacekeeping mission UNIFIL, amid fears of a renewed Israeli military campaign in southern Lebanon. Thursday’s talks will initially be chaired by French President Emmanuel Macron alongside Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Jordan’s King Abdullah II. The United States will be represented by a senior military official involved in Middle East security issues, the news agency reported.
The meetings come after Israel and Lebanon held several rounds of US-brokered talks aimed at easing tensions along their border. A US-mediated framework deal was agreed between Israel and Lebanon in June, but the agreement did not force Israel to withdraw from the large area of southern Lebanon it occupies, and Israel has continued its attacks on the country. On Wednesday night, Israeli forces carried out a series of attacks across southern Lebanon, according to the country’s National News Agency.
Meanwhile, Israeli air attacks killed at least 13 people, including six children, in a town in southern Lebanon last week, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health, in one of the deadliest days of Israeli bombardment in recent weeks. The most immediate concern of the meeting in Paris will be the security vacuum that could be left when the almost 50-year mission of UNIFIL, which has about 7,500 personnel, leaves in January. Despite Lebanon and France both favouring an extension of the UN mandate, neither the US nor Israel has signalled support for prolonging the mission.
The officials in Paris will discuss options for a new international mission, backed by France and Italy, operating outside a UN mandate, as well as a possible European Union-led mission. Both concepts would reportedly focus on training, equipment, intelligence sharing, and mentoring support for the Lebanese Armed Forces. Paris said it wanted the “operational context, parameters and modalities” of the deployment to be clarified at Thursday’s discussions, as a prerequisite for what it hopes will be “robust” international support for the Lebanese forces.
Fears of a renewed Israeli military campaign are growing in Lebanon after escalating attacks, despite a “ceasefire” that was intended to halt Israeli aggression and allow the thousands of displaced people in Lebanon to return home. Disarming the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah remains a key condition for Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon, according to the deal signed, with Aoun reiterating his determination to disarm the group, but “without confrontation”.
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