Lebanon Awaits Extension of UNIFIL Mandate, STL Ruling

UNIFIL peacekeepers watch as Israeli workers build a wall near the border with Israel, near the village of Naqoura, Lebanon March 6, 2018. (Reuters)
UNIFIL peacekeepers watch as Israeli workers build a wall near the border with Israel, near the village of Naqoura, Lebanon March 6, 2018. (Reuters)
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Lebanon Awaits Extension of UNIFIL Mandate, STL Ruling

UNIFIL peacekeepers watch as Israeli workers build a wall near the border with Israel, near the village of Naqoura, Lebanon March 6, 2018. (Reuters)
UNIFIL peacekeepers watch as Israeli workers build a wall near the border with Israel, near the village of Naqoura, Lebanon March 6, 2018. (Reuters)

Lebanon’s political circles are awaiting the extension of the mandate of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), in line with UN Security Council Resolution 1701.

The UN Security Council is expected to decide on the extension at the end of August, amid mounting tension between the United States and Iran, through Tehran’s strategic ally – Hezbollah.

In parallel, Beirut is awaiting the ruling of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) on July 22, on the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri on February 14, 2005 and the start of the trial of the defendants in the two assassination attempts against MP Marwan Hamadeh and former deputy Prime Minister Elias Al-Murr, as well as the assassination of former Secretary General of the Lebanese Communist Party George Hawi. The ruling and trial are significant because all suspects are Hezbollah members.

The extension of UNIFIL’s mandate coincides with Washington’s hinting that it may refrain from financing the peacekeeping forces’ needs to support the Lebanese army in the implementation of resolution 1701, which may lead to the decrease in the number of UN troops in southern Lebanon.

In this regard, western diplomatic sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Washington has repeatedly called for expanding UNIFIL’s powers and promoting its role in the South.

According to the diplomatic sources, Washington believes that it was no longer possible to maintain the “cohabitation” between the international forces and the Lebanese army on one side and Hezbollah, which is impeding the mission of UNIFIL and preventing its troops from entering villages and towns, on the other.



UN Agency Says Israel Shuts 4 Schools in East Jerusalem

A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
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UN Agency Says Israel Shuts 4 Schools in East Jerusalem

A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees says Israeli forces raided four of its schools in east Jerusalem, ordering their closure.

Israel has severed all ties with the agency, known as UNRWA, and bars it from operating in its territory. It says the agency allowed itself to be infiltrated by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, allegations denied by UN officials.

UNRWA said police entered a training center by force on Tuesday, firing tear gas and sound grenades and ordering its evacuation. It said 350 students and 30 staff were present during the raid on the Qalandiya Training Center.

It said police and city officials ordered the closure of three other schools in east Jerusalem, two of which proceeded with the school day.

Israeli police spokesman Dean Elsdunne said police did not enter the UN buildings and that Jerusalem municipal authorities carried out the closures. He said police were deployed to protect the city workers, using “riot dispersal” means in one case where a crowd threw stones at them outside a UN facility.

Roland Friedrich, UNRWA director for the occupied West Bank, including east Jerusalem, said the raids were an “unacceptable violation of United Nations privileges and immunities,” and a “denial of the right to education for children and trainees.”