UN chief Antonio Guterres said on Monday that peacekeepers will be needed in Lebanon after the mandate of the current mission expires at year-end, an option likely to face opposition from the United States and Israel.
In August 2025, the UN Security Council, under US pressure, decided to end the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) on 31 December 2026.
However, it asked Guterres to propose options by June 1 to allow UN peacekeepers to remain in Lebanon, particularly to monitor the Blue Line, which stretches for 120 kilometres and marks the de facto border between Lebanon and Israel, now the middle of the Israel-Hezbollah war.
In a report to the Security Council on Monday, Guterres proposes three options ranging from nearly 2,000 to more than 5,500 UN personnel to monitor the ceasefire and support the Lebanese armed forces.
The report says that all proposed options would require a uniformed United Nations presence to help de-escalate the situation, support dialogue, coordinate efforts, and assist the Lebanese Armed Forces, all aimed at achieving a long-term solution to the conflict.
Concerns over the exit of the UNIFIL come with Israeli troops occupying south Lebanon’s border areas, and as Israel and Lebanon hold direct negotiations, they are seeking to end decades of hostilities.
UNIFIL currently counts some 7,500 peacekeepers from nearly 50 countries. They are deployed in south Lebanon near the Blue Line.
The force has been a buffer between Lebanon and Israel since 1978 although its presence has not prevented repeated outbreaks of conflict.
“Recent developments have only heightened Lebanon’s urgent need for continued UN and international assistance, specifically to facilitate an Israeli withdrawal on the one hand and to enable the state to extend its authority over its entire territory on the other,” Lebanon’s ambassador to the UN, Ahmad Arafa, said while thanking Guterres for his report.
Several members of the Security Council also support replacing UNIFIL, particularly China and Russia.
“As Unifil’s mandate is about to expire, the Security Council must make a responsible decision to ensure the continued UN presence in Lebanon and to prevent a security vacuum,” Fu Cong, China’s UN envoy, said.
But the US and close ally Israel welcomed the vote in August that ended UNIFIL.
The Trump administration has questioned the effectiveness of UN peacekeeping missions and has withheld part of the US financial contribution to support them, forcing the UN to reduce its troops worldwide.
