Lebanese President Joseph Aoun welcomed a French-Italian proposal to establish a new international mechanism to replace the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) after its mandate ends.<\/p>\n
The proposal comes amid growing concerns over a potential security vacuum in southern Lebanon once the UN mission concludes in late 2026.<\/p>\n
In a statement, President Aoun described the initiative as \u201ca sincere expression of international commitment to supporting Lebanon\u2019s sovereignty and stability.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that the proposal reflects \u201crecognition of the Lebanese Armed Forces\u2019 role in maintaining security and extending state authority across all Lebanese territory, particularly in the southern border areas.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aoun emphasized the importance of preventing any security gap after UNIFIL\u2019s withdrawal, noting that the French-Italian position aligns with Lebanon\u2019s view that the Lebanese army is the \u201conly true guarantor of security in the south.\u201d<\/p>\n
He stressed that Lebanon is open to any international framework that:<\/p>\n
– Strengthens the Lebanese Armed Forces<\/p>\n
– Preserves national sovereignty<\/p>\n
– Prevents the country from becoming a platform for regional escalation<\/p>\n
French President Emmanuel Macron announced discussions with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on forming a \u201cmultinational coalition\u201d to operate after UNIFIL\u2019s mandate ends.<\/p>\n
Macron stated:<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to launch a coalition for the post-UNIFIL phase, in coordination with the European Union and the United Nations, to strengthen Lebanon\u2019s sovereignty and armed forces.\u201d<\/p>\n
The initiative aims to ensure stability and prevent Lebanon from becoming a flashpoint for wider regional tensions.<\/p>\n
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni emphasized the need to maintain an international presence in southern Lebanon to avoid a \u201cdangerous security vacuum.\u201d<\/p>\n
She noted that cooperation between Italy and France could play a decisive role in shaping the next phase of international engagement in Lebanon.<\/p>\n
UNIFIL currently includes approximately 7,500 troops from around 50 countries and has been deployed in southern Lebanon near the Blue Line since 1978.<\/p>\n
In August 2025, the UN Security Council decided to end the mission by December 31, 2026, despite calls from UN Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres to maintain a form of international military presence in Lebanon.<\/p>\n
– Lebanon welcomes proposal to replace UNIFIL<\/p>\n
– France and Italy propose multinational coalition<\/p>\n
– Focus on preventing security vacuum in the south<\/p>\n
– Lebanese army seen as key to stability<\/p>\n
– UNIFIL mission set to end in December 2026<\/p>\n
The proposed international coalition reflects increasing international concern about maintaining stability in southern Lebanon after UNIFIL\u2019s withdrawal. As discussions continue, the challenge will be to design a framework that balances sovereignty, security, and regional stability.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun welcomed a French-Italian proposal to establish a new international mechanism to replace the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) after its mandate ends. The proposal comes amid growing concerns over a potential security vacuum in southern Lebanon once the UN mission concludes in late 2026. Aoun Backs International Initiative In […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35041,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"subtitle":"","format":"standard","override":[{"template":"7","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"left-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"topbottom","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"1","show_post_related":"0","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"jnews_post_split":{"post_split":[{"template":"1","tag":"h2","numbering":"asc","mode":"normal","first":"0","enable_toc":"0","toc_type":"normal"}]},"footnotes":""},"categories":[80],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35039"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35039\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35043,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35039\/revisions\/35043"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}