Lebanon Intensifies Efforts to Change Amendments to UNIFIL’s Jurisdiction

Vehicles and members of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrol along the border with the northern Israeli town of Metula, in Kafr Kila, southern Lebanon, 12 July 2023. (EPA)
Vehicles and members of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrol along the border with the northern Israeli town of Metula, in Kafr Kila, southern Lebanon, 12 July 2023. (EPA)
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Lebanon Intensifies Efforts to Change Amendments to UNIFIL’s Jurisdiction

Vehicles and members of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrol along the border with the northern Israeli town of Metula, in Kafr Kila, southern Lebanon, 12 July 2023. (EPA)
Vehicles and members of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrol along the border with the northern Israeli town of Metula, in Kafr Kila, southern Lebanon, 12 July 2023. (EPA)

Lebanon is intensifying its efforts to amend the resolution on the renewal of the term of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) that operates in the South.

In August 2022, the renewal of the mandate of the peacekeeping force included changes that allowed its troops to expand their movement on the ground without prior coordination and cooperation with the Lebanese army.

The amendment was a precedent and sparked controversy in Lebanon, with Hezbollah saying the change turns UNIFIL into an “occupying force”.

Caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib told Asharq Al-Awsat that efforts are underway to amend the article.

The amended article will be presented to relevant countries next week, he revealed.

The UN Security Council will meet in late August to address the renewal of UNIFIL’s mandate.

A source at the Foreign Ministry told Asharq Al-Awsat that efforts have kicked off to garner international support for Lebanon’s position to amend the article. Bou Habib has met with a number of ambassadors of permanent Security Council members.

“Calm in the area of jurisdiction of UNIFIL in southern Lebanon must be an international demand, as it is for Lebanon, to prevent some accidents that we have seen this past year,” it added.

“It is best for everyone to return to the old equation where the army would accompany UNIFIL on its patrols,” it went on to say.

Bou Habib said the army has 2,000 soldiers deployed in UNIFIL’s area of operation. The UN peacekeepers, however, boast 10,000 troops who carry out 400 patrols a day. The army cannot possibly accompany all these patrols and therefore determines which patrol to join so that UNIFIL carries out its duties securely.

A military source confirmed that the army was unable to join every patrol due to a lack of numbers.

It added that the renewal of the resolution lies in the hands of political and diplomatic circles and the army is not involved in the process.

Relations between UNIFIL and residents in the South have grown strained in recent years. Attacks by civilians have taken place against the UN forces. The UNIFIL command had therefore demanded that the army accompany the peacekeepers on their patrols to ensure their safety.

In January, a member of the Irish contingent was killed in one such attack. Three of his colleagues were injured. A judge charged a detained suspect and four fugitives with premeditated murder in the attack.

CEO of the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis (INEGMA) Riad-Kahwaji told Asharq Al-Awsat that the countries with troops in UNIFIL are not willing to put them at risk and in a confrontation with Hezbollah, which effectively controls the South.

They are aware that the Lebanese government is unable to impose its power and sovereignty throughout Lebanon, so the issue of expanding UNIFIL’s jurisdiction is off the table.

There is consensus to keep the situation as it is as long as the geo-political situation also remains unchanged, he remarked, while citing the secret American-Iranian talks and reports of a new deal between Washington and Tehran.

The potential deal will likely prompt the United States to avoid any tensions with Iran, including in southern Lebanon, so Washington would probably not be opposed to changing the amended article to the way it was before August 2022.



In Gaza, Summer Heat Amplifies the Daily Struggle to Survive

Palestinians carry bags containing food and humanitarian aid packages delivered by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US-backed organization, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Sunday, June 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians carry bags containing food and humanitarian aid packages delivered by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US-backed organization, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Sunday, June 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
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In Gaza, Summer Heat Amplifies the Daily Struggle to Survive

Palestinians carry bags containing food and humanitarian aid packages delivered by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US-backed organization, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Sunday, June 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians carry bags containing food and humanitarian aid packages delivered by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US-backed organization, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Sunday, June 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

For Rida Abu Hadayed, summer adds a new layer of misery to a daily struggle to survive in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip.

With temperatures exceeding 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit), daybreak begins with the cries of Hadayed’s seven children sweltering inside the displaced family’s cramped nylon tent. Outside, the humidity is unbearable.

The only way the 32-year-old mother can offer her children relief is by fanning them with a tray or bits of paper — whatever she can find. If she has water, she pours it over them, but that is an increasingly scarce resource, The Associated Press said.

“There is no electricity. There is nothing,” she said, her face beaded with sweat. “They cannot sleep. They keep crying all day until the sun sets.”

The heat in Gaza has intensified hardships for its 2 million residents. Reduced water availability, crippled sanitation networks, and shrinking living spaces threaten to cause illnesses to cascade through communities, aid groups have long warned.

The scorching summer coincides with a lack of clean water for the majority of Gaza’s population, most of whom are displaced in tented communities. Many Palestinians in the enclave must walk long distances to fetch water and ration each drop, limiting their ability to wash and keep cool.

“We are only at the beginning of summer,“ Hadayed’s husband, Yousef, said. “And our situation is dire.”

Israel had blocked food, fuel, medicine and all other supplies from entering Gaza for nearly three months. It began allowing limited aid in May, but fuel needed to pump water from wells or operate desalination plants is still not getting into the territory.

With fuel supplies short, only 40% of drinking water production facilities are functioning in the Gaza Strip, according to a recent report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. All face imminent collapse. Up to 93% of households face water shortages, the June report said.

The Hadayeds were displaced after evacuation orders forced them to leave eastern Khan Younis.

“Our lives in the tent are miserable. We spend our days pouring water over their heads and their skin,” Yousef Hadayed said. “Water itself is scarce. It is very difficult to get that water.”

UNICEF’s spokesperson recently said that if fuel supplies are not allowed to enter the enclave, children will die of thirst.

“Me and my children spend our days sweating,” said Reham Abu Hadayed, a 30-year-old relative of Rida Abu Hadayed who was also displaced from eastern Khan Younis. She worries about the health of her four children.

“I don’t have enough money to buy them medicine,” she said.

For Mohammed al-Awini, 23, the heat is not the worst part. It's the flies and mosquitoes that bombard his tent, especially at night.

Without adequate sewage networks, garbage piles up on streets, attracting insects and illness. The stench of decomposing trash wafts in the air.

“We are awake all night, dying from mosquito bites,” he said. “We are the most tired people in the world.”