Lebanon Requests Extension of UNIFIL Mandate without Modification

Vehicles belonging to UN peacekeepers drive along a road along the Lebanon-Israel border near the southern Lebanese town of Kfar Kila on September 1, 2019. (AFP)
Vehicles belonging to UN peacekeepers drive along a road along the Lebanon-Israel border near the southern Lebanese town of Kfar Kila on September 1, 2019. (AFP)
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Lebanon Requests Extension of UNIFIL Mandate without Modification

Vehicles belonging to UN peacekeepers drive along a road along the Lebanon-Israel border near the southern Lebanese town of Kfar Kila on September 1, 2019. (AFP)
Vehicles belonging to UN peacekeepers drive along a road along the Lebanon-Israel border near the southern Lebanese town of Kfar Kila on September 1, 2019. (AFP)

Lebanon said on Monday it wanted to extend the mandate of United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) without any modifications to its mission.

President Michel Aoun delivered the request during a meeting at the Presidential Palace with UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix.

He also noted the adoption of the UNIFIL budget on June 30, remarking that despite regional tensions, southern Lebanon has been enjoying stability since the July 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel.

Aoun praised the existing cooperation between the Lebanese Army and UNIFIL, reiterating his condemnation of Israeli air violations, especially recent ones, through raids launched against Syrian territories from Lebanese airspace.

Aoun reiterated Lebanon’s commitment to the full implementation of UN resolution 1701, calling on the UN to compel Israel to also respect it.

For his part, Lacroix stressed that the UN will always stand by Lebanon, adding that UNIFIL will continue to implement resolution 1701, through the existing cooperation between the Lebanese army and international forces.

Lacroix also held talks with parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab.



Türkiye's Foreign Minister to Visit Iraq to Discuss Kurdish Militants and Security

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan speaks during a joint press conference with Sweden's Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard and Sweden's Minister of Justice Gunnar Strommer (both not pictured) in Ankara, Türkiye, January 21, 2025. (Reuters)
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan speaks during a joint press conference with Sweden's Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard and Sweden's Minister of Justice Gunnar Strommer (both not pictured) in Ankara, Türkiye, January 21, 2025. (Reuters)
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Türkiye's Foreign Minister to Visit Iraq to Discuss Kurdish Militants and Security

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan speaks during a joint press conference with Sweden's Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard and Sweden's Minister of Justice Gunnar Strommer (both not pictured) in Ankara, Türkiye, January 21, 2025. (Reuters)
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan speaks during a joint press conference with Sweden's Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard and Sweden's Minister of Justice Gunnar Strommer (both not pictured) in Ankara, Türkiye, January 21, 2025. (Reuters)

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will visit Iraq on Sunday for talks with officials on the fight against Kurdish militants, security issues and bilateral ties, a Turkish diplomatic source said on Saturday.

Ties between the neighbors have been rocky in recent years due to Ankara's cross-border military operations against Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants based in northern Iraq's mountainous regions.

However, they have improved since Baghdad labelled the group a "banned organization" last year and the countries agreed to hold high-level security talks.

Fidan's visit comes amid repeated calls from Türkiye for the Kurdish YPG militia in northeastern Syria to disband following the fall of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad last month, with Ankara warning of a new incursion unless its concerns are addressed.

The YPG spearheads the US-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Türkiye deems them terrorists that are an extension of the PKK, which the West also considers a terrorist organization.

The source said Fidan would meet Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, and other Iraqi officials during the visit, adding he would repeat Ankara's expectation for Iraq to label the PKK a terrorist organization and remove it from its lands.

Fidan will emphasize the need for regional countries "to act together against this terrorist organization's attempts to gain legitimacy and ground," the source said, with bilateral ties and trade also be on the agenda.

On Thursday, Hussein said Türkiye attacking Kurdish forces in northern Syria would be dangerous and create more refugees.

Since Assad's toppling by an administration friendly towards Ankara, Syria's Kurdish factions have been on the back foot, and negotiators from the United States, Türkiye, Damascus and the SDF have been zeroing in on a potential deal on the group's fate.

Fidan's visit also comes amid a domestic political effort to end the decades-old conflict between Türkiye and the PKK.