UN Gives Major Push to Arms Embargo on Lebanon’s Armed Groups

UNIFIL peacekeepers. Reuters file photo
UNIFIL peacekeepers. Reuters file photo
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UN Gives Major Push to Arms Embargo on Lebanon’s Armed Groups

UNIFIL peacekeepers. Reuters file photo
UNIFIL peacekeepers. Reuters file photo

The United Nations Security Council has unanimously adopted a resolution extending the mandate of the peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon known as UNIFIL until Aug. 31, 2019.

France, which had drafted the resolution, has held tough negotiations with the United States after it had proposed major amendments to the French-drafted text on the extension of UNIFIL’s mandate.

Informed sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley lobbied hard for a change in the text of the mandate, including calls on the Lebanese government to boost its naval capabilities, with the ultimate aim of drawing down the mission's maritime taskforce.

But on calls for the “condemnation of Hezbollah’s ownership of new military capabilities, including missiles,” France succeeded in convincing the US that “it was unnecessary” to insist on the denunciation.

The French-drafted resolution again urged all countries to enforce a 2006 arms embargo and prevent the sale or supply of weapons to any individual or entity in Lebanon not authorized by the government or UNIFIL, an implicit criticism of the suppliers of weapons to “Hezbollah.”

This part of the text was seen as a major victory for the US because it means that the UN Secretary General has to write a special report on the implementation of the embargo along with the reports that he issues every three months on Security Council Resolution 1701 that ended the war between Israel and “Hezbollah” in 2006, a source said.

"All states shall take the necessary measures to prevent, by their nationals or from their territories or using flag vessels or aircraft, the sale or supply of arms and related materiel to any entity or individual in Lebanon other than those authorized by the Government of Lebanon or UNIFIL," the resolution states.

The Council also called for the Lebanese government "to develop a plan to increase its naval capabilities ... with the goal of ultimately decreasing UNIFIL's Maritime Task Force and transitioning its responsibilities to the Lebanese Armed Forces."



Gaza Civil Defense Says Israeli Strikes Kill at Least 29

A Palestinian girl, wounded in an Israeli strike that killed people, who gathered to collect water from a distribution point, according to medics, receives treatment at Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip July 13, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer
A Palestinian girl, wounded in an Israeli strike that killed people, who gathered to collect water from a distribution point, according to medics, receives treatment at Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip July 13, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer
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Gaza Civil Defense Says Israeli Strikes Kill at Least 29

A Palestinian girl, wounded in an Israeli strike that killed people, who gathered to collect water from a distribution point, according to medics, receives treatment at Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip July 13, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer
A Palestinian girl, wounded in an Israeli strike that killed people, who gathered to collect water from a distribution point, according to medics, receives treatment at Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip July 13, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer

Gaza's civil defense agency said Israeli airstrikes on Sunday killed at least 29 Palestinians, including six children near a water distribution point.

The attacks came with apparent deadlock in a week of indirect talks in Qatar between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas for a ceasefire in the territory.

Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that Gaza City was hit by several strikes overnight and in the early morning, killing eight, "including women and children" and wounding others.

An Israeli airstrike hit a family home near the Nuseirat refugee camp, south of Gaza City, resulting in "10 martyrs and several injured", Bassal said.

In central Gaza, six children were among eight people killed when a drone "hit a potable water distribution point in an area for displaced people" in the Nuseirat camp, he added.

Several other people were wounded, he said.

In the territory's south, three people were killed when Israeli jets hit a tent sheltering displaced Palestinians in the coastal Al-Mawasi area, according to the civil defense spokesman.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has recently intensified its operations across Gaza, more than 21 months into the war triggered by Hamas's October 2023 attack.

On Saturday, the military said fighter jets had hit more than 35 "Hamas terror targets" around Beit Hanun in northern Gaza.

The vast majority of Gaza's population of more than two million people have been displaced at least once during the war, which has created dire humanitarian conditions in the territory.

Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify tolls and details provided by the civil defense agency and other parties.