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Peacekeeping Chief: UN Positions in Lebanon Risk Being 'Occupied'

A Lebanese army soldier stands near UN peacekeepers (UNIFIL) vehicles in Marjayoun, near the border with Israel, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, southern Lebanon October 29, 2024. REUTERS/Karamallah Daher
A Lebanese army soldier stands near UN peacekeepers (UNIFIL) vehicles in Marjayoun, near the border with Israel, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, southern Lebanon October 29, 2024. REUTERS/Karamallah Daher
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Peacekeeping Chief: UN Positions in Lebanon Risk Being 'Occupied'

A Lebanese army soldier stands near UN peacekeepers (UNIFIL) vehicles in Marjayoun, near the border with Israel, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, southern Lebanon October 29, 2024. REUTERS/Karamallah Daher
A Lebanese army soldier stands near UN peacekeepers (UNIFIL) vehicles in Marjayoun, near the border with Israel, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, southern Lebanon October 29, 2024. REUTERS/Karamallah Daher

The UN peacekeeping chief said Friday that the blue helmet force in Lebanon will hold its line despite facing attacks in recent weeks, adding that its positions would be "occupied" if it left.
More than 10,000 peacekeepers with the UNIFIL mission have been stationed in southern Lebanon since 1978 and are tasked with monitoring the "Blue Line" of demarcation with Israel.
Jean-Pierre Lacroix, under secretary-general for peace operations, said that "UNIFIL peacekeepers are staying, they're holding their line, and they're determined to continue doing what they're mandated to do."
He said the force had rejected an Israeli request that it move five kilometers from the Blue Line.
"First of all, because there is a mandate... we are duty born to the mandate, the peacekeepers need to stay," Lacroix said in an interview with the UN Information Service.
"Second, because we thought that if those positions along the Blue Line are abandoned, then they would likely be occupied by one party or the other. That would be very bad for many reasons, including the perception of impartiality and neutrality of the United Nations," he added.
On Wednesday, a UNIFIL spokesman said the force had recorded more than 30 incidents in October resulting in property damage or injury to peacekeepers, about 20 of them from Israeli fire or action.
Israel is fighting a two-front war, against Iran-backed Hezbollah -- in fighting that has included Israeli forces invading Lebanon -- and against Hamas in Gaza.
The current conflict was triggered by the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel.

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Security Council Urges ‘Realistic’ Solution to Sahara Conflict

A view of Council members voting in favor of the resolution (UN)
A view of Council members voting in favor of the resolution (UN)
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Security Council Urges ‘Realistic’ Solution to Sahara Conflict

A view of Council members voting in favor of the resolution (UN)
A view of Council members voting in favor of the resolution (UN)

The UN Security Council on Thursday called for a “realistic” political solution in the contested territory of Western Sahara as it passed a resolution extending the UN mission there for another year.
The US-sponsored resolution renewed the mandate of MINURSO, also known as the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara, until October 31, 2025, AFP reported.
The resolution passed with support from 12 of the Security Council's 15 member states; Algeria -- which submitted two rejected amendments -- refused to vote in protest, while Russia and Mozambique abstained.
In a statement on the resolution, the Security Council emphasized “the importance of aligning the strategic focus of MINURSO and orienting resources of the United Nations to this end” for the former Spanish colony.
Considered a “non-autonomous territory” by the United Nations, Western Sahara covers approximately 266,000 square kilometers north of Mauritania.
The territory, which contains valuable mineral deposits and long stretches of coastline fisheries, is largely controlled by Morocco.
For decades, it has constituted a dispute between Rabat and the Algerian-backed Polisario Front.
Morocco had proposed an autonomy plan that would provide for a degree of self-government for Western Sahara under its sovereignty. In return, the Polisario has called for a referendum on self-determination, under the auspices of the United Nations, as stipulated in the 1991 ceasefire agreement.
Last Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron promised in Rabat his country’s “diplomatic” commitment to push the Moroccan solution on Western Sahara at the UN as well as within the European Union.
“We will act by engaging diplomatically to convince that the Moroccan solution is the only one within the European Union, at the United Nations,” he said in front of the French community in Morocco.
Earlier last month, the UN envoy for Western Sahara, Staffan de Mistura has proposed dividing the territory between Morocco and the Polisario Front in order to resolve the decades-old conflict. However, his plans were swiftly rejected by the Polisario that said the plan fails to “enshrine” the Sahrawi people's right to self determination.
Sidi Omar, the Polisario representative to the UN, said in a post on X that the movement strongly affirms its total and categorical rejection of any proposals or initiatives, which do not fully enshrine and ensure the inalienable, non-negotiable and imprescriptible right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination and independence or do not respect the territorial integrity of Western Sahara.