The United States' persistent refusal to renew the mandate of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) demands a search for an alternative UN peacekeeping force that has both European and American backing to operate in southern Lebanon, Lebanese parliament Speaker Nabih Berri told Asharq Al-Awsat.
Berri warned that without such a force, there would be no legal basis to maintain an international presence.
This international role remains essential as the sole framework supporting the Lebanese Army's efforts to deploy and extend state sovereignty over all its territory, which is conditioned on a full Israeli withdrawal to the international borders, he went on to say.
Berri stressed that bilateral agreements between Lebanon and Israel are not an alternative to an international presence in the south, so long as Tel Aviv refuses to implement what the two countries reached under the US-sponsored "Framework Agreement."
This agreement committed to implementing the first "pilot phase" and establishing a mechanism to verify the army's deployment in the covered towns.
Berri noted that despite his rejection of the agreement, he had proposed expanding it by applying it on the district level, based on the administrative divisions of the south, rather than restricting it to the occupied town of Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh and incorporating liberated towns into it.
The December 31 expiration of the UNIFIL mandate in southern Lebanon, driven by Washington's insistence, has raised deep concerns among the Lebanese public regarding the loss of an international presence that can monitor the Israeli withdrawal.
While Israel pushes for bilateral agreements in place of the UN force, an approach broadly rejected in Lebanon, alternative proposals include forming a European force under a UN mandate if the Security Council extension is blocked.
This shifts the responsibility to the United States to consider Lebanon's position, especially since President General Joseph Aoun has called for a UN-backed European force as an alternative if Washington blocks Lebanon's official request to temporarily extend UNIFIL’s mandate.
