Lebanon’s top officials urged visiting US lawmakers on Wednesday to back the Lebanese army and support the renewal of a UN peacekeeping force in the south, while criticizing Washington’s stance on extending its mandate.
President Joseph Aoun told Senator Markwayne Mullin, a member of the US Senate Armed Services Committee, that the army needed urgent support to carry out its duties, particularly deploying along Lebanon’s southern border.
He stressed that Beirut rejects any attempt to cede territory and insists on “full, undiminished sovereignty.”
Aoun also called for Israel’s withdrawal from five occupied border points, the release of Lebanese prisoners, an end to military operations, and donor contributions for reconstruction to fully implement a US-backed plan.
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who also met Mullin and a bipartisan delegation accompanied by US Ambassador Lisa Johnson, sharply criticized Washington’s opposition to renewing the mandate of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
“How can a mediator seeking to secure a ceasefire undermine its own efforts?” Berri asked, pointing to US sponsorship of the November 2024 truce between Lebanon and Israel.
Israel and the United States have both opposed a full one-year renewal of UNIFIL’s mandate, arguing for a gradual drawdown.
The force, created in 1978 and expanded after the 2006 war under Security Council resolution 1701, currently numbers more than 10,000 troops from some 50 countries. France has submitted a draft resolution at the UN Security Council to extend the mandate for a year before phasing it out.
Berri accused Israel of repeatedly violating UN resolutions with airstrikes and cross-border attacks, not only south of the Litani River – where UNIFIL operates – but across Lebanon.
He said Washington was sending “mixed signals” by pressing Israel to respect the ceasefire while opposing the peacekeepers tasked with monitoring it.
The Security Council debate comes amid US pressure on Beirut to disarm Hezbollah before year-end as part of the ceasefire deal, with Israeli officials threatening fresh military action if the Iran-backed group retains its arsenal.
US envoy Tom Perriello, who visited Beirut earlier this week, praised Lebanon’s commitment to confining arms to the state, calling it “the first step” toward implementing the truce, and urged Israel to take “a parallel step.”
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam told the US delegation his government had adopted reforms and was committed to asserting state control over weapons, but urged Washington to press Israel to halt its strikes, withdraw from occupied border points, and release Lebanese detainees.
Meanwhile, UNIFIL said peacekeepers, working with the Lebanese army, had discovered a 50-meter tunnel and unexploded ordnance near the southern village of Qusayr, which were handed over to the army in line with resolution 1701.
Israeli violations have persisted at a lower intensity, the force said. Lebanon’s state news agency reported that Israeli drones flew over several southern villages, while Israeli forces fired four flares into the Hermon area near Yaroun and Rmeish, sparking brush fires.
