عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

Berri to Asharq Al-Awsat: Committee Assigned to Request Renewal of UNIFIL Mandate in Lebanon

13 October 2022, Lebanon, Beirut: Lebanese parliament Speaker Nabih Berri speaks at the beginning of a parliamentary session. (dpa)
13 October 2022, Lebanon, Beirut: Lebanese parliament Speaker Nabih Berri speaks at the beginning of a parliamentary session. (dpa)
TT
20
TT

Berri to Asharq Al-Awsat: Committee Assigned to Request Renewal of UNIFIL Mandate in Lebanon

13 October 2022, Lebanon, Beirut: Lebanese parliament Speaker Nabih Berri speaks at the beginning of a parliamentary session. (dpa)
13 October 2022, Lebanon, Beirut: Lebanese parliament Speaker Nabih Berri speaks at the beginning of a parliamentary session. (dpa)

Lebanese parliament Speaker Nabih Berri confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that a committee has been formed to request the renewal of the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

Ministerial sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the renewal was the focus of talks between President Joseph Aoun and Berri.

The speaker said the committee will be tasked with preparing the request that will be submitted to the UN Security Council.

The renewal will be requested without an amendment to UNIFIL’s duties, he revealed.

Berri said Aoun informed him that Lebanon is not aware of any efforts to amend the mission’s duties or that there were attempts to reduce the number of its troops.

At the moment, Lebanon is awaiting a visit by the United States’ Deputy Middle East envoy Morgan Oratgus to determine what Washington’s position is towards the renewal and UNIFIL’s future.

Washington has said it wants to reduce its financial contributions to the UN budget, which will impact its role in supporting the Lebanese army’s efforts in implementing UN Security Council resolution 1701.

The US is reportedly also seeking to amend UNIFIL’s duties and possibly even meeting Tel Aviv’s demand that the international force be removed entirely from southern Lebanon.

Berri said Lebanon wants to keep UNIFIL and its mandate. It will also reiterate to Ortagus its demand that Israel withdraw its forces from Lebanon so that resolution 1701 can be implemented in full.

He noted that France already supports the renewal of UNIFIL’s mandate, while the US has not made any announcement related to the issue.

Moreover, he stressed that Lebanon has met all of its commitments towards the US-sponsored ceasefire with Israel.

Berri added that his ally Hezbollah is committed to the ceasefire and cooperating with the military in deploying south of the Litani River with UNIFIL’s support.

Hezbollah continues to respect the ceasefire as demonstrated in its refraining from retaliating to Israeli violations and attacks. It has not fired a single shot since the ceasefire was declared in November. Israel, meanwhile, continues to violate the agreement, added Berri.

Most Viewed

 
Arab World

Tribal Leader Says Evacuations from Syria’s Sweida are ‘Temporary’

Syrian Bedouin families ride in a convoy led by Red Crescent vehicles in Busra al-Harir, heading to Daraa after being evacuated from Sweida following more than a week of violent clashes, Monday, July 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Malek Khattab)
Syrian Bedouin families ride in a convoy led by Red Crescent vehicles in Busra al-Harir, heading to Daraa after being evacuated from Sweida following more than a week of violent clashes, Monday, July 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Malek Khattab)
TT
20
TT

Tribal Leader Says Evacuations from Syria’s Sweida are ‘Temporary’

Syrian Bedouin families ride in a convoy led by Red Crescent vehicles in Busra al-Harir, heading to Daraa after being evacuated from Sweida following more than a week of violent clashes, Monday, July 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Malek Khattab)
Syrian Bedouin families ride in a convoy led by Red Crescent vehicles in Busra al-Harir, heading to Daraa after being evacuated from Sweida following more than a week of violent clashes, Monday, July 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Malek Khattab)

Hundreds of Bedouin civilians were bussed out of Syria’s mainly Druze city of Sweida on Monday under a US-backed ceasefire aimed at halting days of fighting between Bedouin tribesmen and Druze militants that witnesses said has killed scores of people.

The head of Syria’s Supreme Council of Tribes and Clans said on Monday that hundreds of the Arab families who began leaving the southern city of Sweida were undertaking a “temporary displacement” to allow the army to secure the area, rejecting accusations of a wholesale forced exodus.

Sheikh Mudar Hamad al‑Asaad told Asharq al‑Awsat daily that homes belonging to Arab Bedouin families in several Sweida neighborhoods had been burned, looted and wrecked during recent unrest.

“The streets are blocked and the houses are uninhabitable,” he said. “The departure is only until the army and internal security forces can restore order across the city and its outlying villages.”

State news agency SANA said earlier that the Interior Ministry had brokered an agreement allowing “all civilians who wish to leave Sweida because of the current conditions” to do so until their safe return can be guaranteed. Buses began moving families from Sweida at dawn on Monday.

Asaad dismissed social‑media claims that the transfers amounted to sectarian “ethnic cleansing” of Arabs from the Druze‑majority province.

“Electronic trolls are stirring up sedition,” he said. “The aim is to prolong the dispute between the government, the militias of Sheikh Hikmat al‑Hijri and the Arab tribes, and to push the region towards instability.”

He accused “remnants of the Assad regime, PKK elements, arms and narcotics traffickers – and Hijri himself – of exploiting the chaos” to carve out a Druze‑run enclave.

Asaad said most of the evacuees were women and children from farming and trading families who had fled other parts of Syria during the civil war.

The tribal leader denied the withdrawal was a capitulation. He said the clans had agreed to leave only after a presidential statement urged them to quit the flashpoint areas.

“Without that order, the tribes would be in complete control of Sweida today,” he said, adding that Druze elders and local political figures had also asked them to help stop Hijri’s “destructive project”.

Arabs have lived in Sweida “since before Islam” and make up roughly 30 percent of the province’s population, alongside Syriac Christians (just over 10 percent) and Druze who settled in the 11th century, Asaad said.

He estimated that more than 150,000 young tribesmen had mobilized during the recent flare‑up. According to Asaad, the tribes back the Syrian army’s deployment in Sweida and want all weapons – whether held by Druze, tribes or others – placed under state control.

“The clans seek to spread peace among the Syrian people, settle disputes and bury sectarian strife,” he said.

“We stand with all components of Syrian society and have no ambition to replace the state, only to defend the gains of the Syrian revolution and support national stability.”