Lebanon
Current Operations
UNIFIL
United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UN-led)
Since: 03/78
More Information
UN envoy and Prime Minister discuss prospects for long-term ceasefire (14.06.2010)
(Source:UN News)
The top United Nations envoy to Lebanon met today with the country’s Prime Minister Saad Hariri to discuss further implementation of Security Council resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 conflict between Israel and Hizbollah.
UN envoy voices support for effort to develop defence strategy (14.04.2010)
(Source:UN News)
The top United Nations envoy to Lebanon today met with the minister in charge of administrative reform and voiced support for the country’s national dialogue, a reconciliation process, which will meet tomorrow to discuss developing a national defence strategy.
UN again protests against Israeli over-flights (11.01.2010)
(Source:UN News)
The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon has strongly protested to Israel over the significant number of over-flights in Lebanese airspace during the last few days in violation of a Security Council resolution ending the 34-day war between Israel and Hizbollah militants in 2006.
UNIFIL peacekeepers find bombs buried near Israel border (07.01.2010)
(Source:The Daily Star)
United Nations peacekeeping forces last week discovered a large number of buried explosive devices in southern Lebanon about a kilometer from the border with Israel. … According to sources in Israel, it is believed the devices were placed at the site by Hezbollah to strike at an Israel Defense Forces patrol that might try to enter Lebanon at the site, near the northern Israel town of Metula.
Lebanon to discuss Israeli plans for border town pullout (16.12.2009)
(Source:Reliefweb)
UN and Lebanese military representatives were due to meet Wednesday to discuss Israeli plans for a troop pullout from the northern part of a divided border village. Lebanon fears the planned withdrawal from Ghajar could seal the division of the village into a southern, Israeli-controlled part and a northern part under joint Lebanon-UN supervision.
UNIFIL candid about Ghajar withdrawal hopes (09.12.2009)
(Source:The Daily Star / Lebanon)
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) held a tripartite meeting with representatives from the Lebanese and Israeli Armies Tuesday amid a flurry of media reports concerning the fate of the occupied northern part of the village of Ghajar.
Germany continues successful mission (07.12.2009)
(Source:Reliefweb)
The Bundeswehr mission off the Lebanese coast will be continued.The German Bundestag adopted by a large majority the extension of the UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) mandate until 30 June 2010. The mission's upper manpower limit will be reduced to 800 soldiers.
UN report finds no evidence of arms smuggling to Lebanon (05.11.2009)
(Source:Haaretz)
Two days before Israel's capture of a ship that was apparently ferrying arms to Hezbollah, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon released a report to the UN Security Council in which he said the United Nations took the Israeli allegations about weapons smuggling to Hezbollah seriously, but lacked the ability to independently verify the information.
Spain fuming after Netanyahu asks Italy to retain control of UNIFIL (29.10.2009)
(Source:Haaretz)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has secretly asked Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to keep his country in charge of the United Nations force in Lebanon rather than handing control to Spain as planned, causing chagrin in Madrid.
Lebanon: UN official confers with minister on ceasefire with Israel (07.10.2009)
(Source:UN News / International)
A senior United Nations official today conferred with Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh on the need for a longer-term ceasefire in the south of the country, where Israel and Hizbollah fought a 34-day war in 2006.
UNIFIL says 'terrorists' in Palestinian camps threat to national security (28.09.2009)
(Source:Daily Star Beirut / Lebanon)
UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) Force Commander Major General Claudio Graziano said that no war was looming between Lebanon and Israel, but he added that small groups of terrorists from Palestinian camps continued to represent a threat to security here.
UN blue helmets help advance de-mining effort in southern Lebanon (25.09.2009)
(Source:UN News / International)
Some 7,500 square metres of land in southern Lebanon that was cleared of mines by United Nations peacekeepers were returned this week to farmers and landowners in the town of Hiniyyeh, the world body reported.
Hariri gets second chance as Prime Minister (16.09.2009)
(Source:BBC / UK)
Lebanese President Michel Suleiman has named the parliamentary majority leader Saad al-Hariri as prime minister designate for a second time. Mr Hariri stood down a week earlier after failing to win opposition backing for his national unity cabinet.
Palestinian link in Lebanon rocket attack: UN (13.09.2009)
(Source:Asharq Al-Awsat / UK)
Extremists tied to Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon may have been behind the latest rocket attack from the south into Israel, a United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon official said on Saturday. "My understanding is that they (the investigations) are focusing on the extremist groups that might be linked to the refugee camps," UNIFIL political adviser Milos Strugar told AFP.
Italian UNIFIL peacekeepers clear mines along Blue Line (12.09.2009)
(Source:The Daily Star / Lebanon)
A team of Italian deminers operating as part of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) cleared mines all along the border Blue Line on Friday. … “Blue Line Marking” is a “very important UN commitment, aimed at reinforcing and improving the stabilization of the area by positioning a visible boundary line between Lebanon and Israel,” the statement said.
Ban sounds alarm on rocket firing into Israel from southern Lebanon (11.09.2009)
(Source:UN News / International)
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned today’s firing of at least two rockets into northern Israel from southern Lebanon, urging all parties to exercise maximum restraint. Preliminary reports note that the rockets were fired from the general area of Qlaileh, in southern Lebanon, and impacted northern Israel in the general area north of Nahariya, according to the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which is working closely with the Lebanese Armed Forces to investigate the incident.
Lebanon opposition rejects Hariri government move: source (07.09.2009)
(Source:Reuters / International)
Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Saad al-Hariri handed the president his proposed line-up for a national unity government on Monday in a move swiftly rejected by opposition factions including the powerful Hezbollah. Hariri was designated prime minister in late June but has yet to reach agreement with the opposition on the new unity government set to include the Syria- and Iran-backed Hezbollah and its allies.
140 Danish troops set to join UNIFIL (05.09.2009)
(Source:The Daily Star / Lebanon)
Denmark plans to send 140 soldiers to Lebanon to join a United Nations peacekeeping operation there, Danish Defense Minister Soeren Gade told AFP Friday. The Danish troops will leave in December to work with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which has stepped up its activities since the
Israeli violations in Kfar Shuba ongoing after removal of outpost (02.09.2009)
(Source:The Daily Star / Lebanon)
The Israeli violations in the southern region of Kfar Shuba continue despite the removal of the unmanned observation post on August 17, said the Hasbaya correspondent for the state-run National News Agency (NNA) on Tuesday. The observation post that spiked conflicts earlier this summer was removed but the sandbags were left on the site.
Germany assumes control of UN coastal fleet in Lebanon (31.08.2009)
(Source:UN News / International)
Germany took the helm of United Nations peacekeeping’s first-ever maritime task force (MTF), which was deployed off the coast of Lebanon in 2006 to curtail arms smuggling following that year’s war Israel-Hizbollah war.
Lebanese leaders welcome UNIFIL mandate extension (29.08.2009)
(Source:The Daily Star / Lebanon)
The UN Security Council’s decision to extend the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was welcomed Friday by senior Lebanese politicians.
Hariri: Hizbullah will join next government (26.08.2009)
(Source:Jerusalem Post / Israel)
Hizbullah will be part of the next Lebanese government "whether Israel likes it or not," Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Sa'ad Hariri was quoted as saying Wednesday. … Hariri's comments followed a warning by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu last month that Lebanon would be blamed for any strikes on Israel if it allowed the guerrilla group to join the government.
French-Libyan sparring holds up UNIFIL mandate extension (26.08.2009)
(Source:The Daily Star / Lebanon)
As the deadline looms for the UN Security Council to renew its peacekeeping mandate in south Lebanon, reports are emerging of diplomatic disunity that threatens to undermine its operations in the country. The mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), stipulated by Security Council Resolution 1701 … has been up for discussion since the beginning of the month. However, member states in New York have differing opinions on draft articles relating to what Secretary General Ban Ki Moon labeled “serious violations” of 1701.
Israel dismantles observation post next to Blue Line (18.08.2009)
(Source:The Daily Star / Lebanon)
The post’s erection, close to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL)-demarcated Blue Line – the boundary of Israeli military withdrawal from Lebanon – had caused outrage among residents in the south and led to a series of tension-heightening incidents between the two nations’ armed forces.
Lebanon’s letter to UN denies army delayed probe into Khirbet Silim blasts (29.07.2009)
(Source:The Daily Star / Lebanon)
A letter sent by the Lebanese Foreign Ministry to United Nations said the explosions which took place in the southern town of Khirbet Silim earlier this month were due to “a fire breaking out in an abandoned building that housed unexploded munitions from the summer 2006 war with Israel.”
Israeli tank redeployment raises tensions in Lebanon (29.07.2009)
(Source:The Daily Star / Lebanon)
Tensions ran high in south Lebanon Tuesday after Israel moved four Merkava tanks from the Arqoub region and deployed them 100 meters from the Hassan Gate in the occupied Kfar Shuba Hills region. The tanks’ redeployment was accompanied by Israeli warplanes hovering over the area, before flying above the southern region of Hasbaya and Marjayoun. The regions of Beirut and West Bekaa also witnessed intensive Israeli overflights.
Al-Qaeda claims rocket attacks from Lebanon (27.07.2009)
(Source:The Daily Star / Lebanon)
The militant group Al-Qaeda has claimed responsibility for the rocket attacks on Israel which threatened to shatter its fragile peace with Lebanon earlier this year. A video, apparently produced and posted online by the group, recently surfaced featuring footage of two hooded militiamen assembling rockets and positioning them to fire at Israeli military targets from what is purported to be South Lebanon.
Hizbullah kept arms cache in violation of Resolution 1701 – UN (25.07.2009)
(Source:The Daily Star / Lebanon)
Hizbullah actively maintained an arms depot which exploded in southern Lebanon earlier this month, violating a ceasefire, the UN said in a document obtained by AFP on Friday. The United Nations head of peacekeeping operations Alain Le Roy told the Security Council in a closed-door briefing on Thursday that the July 14 explosion marked a “serious violation” of Resolution 1701 which ended Israel’s summer 2006 war on Lebanon.
UN convinced Lebanon-Israel truce will hold (24.07.2009)
(Source:Asharq Al-Awsat / UK)
A U.N. envoy says that Israel, Lebanon and Hezbollah still want to keep the truce that ended a devastating 2006 war despite recent incidents that have raised tensions. Michael Williams, the U.N. special coordinator for Lebanon, told The Associated Press in an interview Friday that he's confident that the U.N. Security Council would renew the mandate of peacekeepers due to expire next month.
Top UN envoy urges restraint after recent incidents in southern Lebanon (23.07.2009)
(Source:UN News / International)
A top United Nations official has called for restraint following recent incidents in southern Lebanon, including the wounding of several of the world body’s peacekeepers during an investigation into an explosion at an arms cache last week. Fourteen soldiers serving with the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) were reportedly injured, and some UN vehicles damaged, on Saturday when protesters tried to stop the investigation in the area of Khirbat Silim.