Security Council Readies Vote to End UNIFIL Mission by 2026

The U.N. Security Council has scheduled a vote for Thursday on a French-drafted resolution that would terminate the mandate of the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) on 31 December 2026 and begin withdrawing its roughly 10,800 troops and civilian staff. The proposal, negotiated behind closed doors, marks the first time in more than four decades that the Council is poised to set a fixed end-date for the peacekeeping mission, which was created after Israel’s 1978 invasion and expanded following the 2006 war with Hezbollah. Ahead of the vote, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun held a telephone call with French President Emmanuel Macron, thanking Paris for securing consensus on extending UNIFIL’s mandate long enough to allow an orderly hand-over to the Lebanese Armed Forces. Macron told Aoun that Europe and other international partners broadly support the army’s plan to enforce the exclusive right to bear arms in southern Lebanon, provided the transition is executed with precision. Aoun and Macron also discussed preparations for two international conferences aimed at accelerating Lebanon’s post-war reconstruction and shoring up financial and material assistance to the Lebanese military, whose resources remain stretched. While Washington has long argued for winding down UNIFIL, European capitals have cautioned that a premature withdrawal could create a security vacuum along the Israel–Lebanon border. The forthcoming vote will determine whether the mission ends in 2026, as drafted, or gains any additional time through last-minute diplomacy.