BEIRUT: Visiting EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Thursday that the bloc favoured avoiding a security vacuum and extending a UN peacekeeping mandate in south Lebanon. "Our member states have been saying that there can't be any security vacuum in southern Lebanon, so everybody is worried about the UNIFIL mandate ending," she said during a visit to Lebanon where she met senior officials.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, which now counts some 7,500 personnel from nearly 50 countries, has been in place since 1978. Under US pressure, the UN Security Council voted last year to end UNIFIL's mandate on December 31, 2026.
"As long as you don't have any kind of international force yet ready to do that... it's dangerous when one mission like UNIFIL ends and the other one has not started yet," she said. Lebanese officials have repeatedly called for the mandate to be extended.
The EU's top diplomat also said that the bloc would soon be launching a training mission for the Lebanese army, calling it "a major upgrade in the security relationship" with the Mediterranean country. — AFP
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
