Libanon

The leaders of France, Lebanon and Jordan on Thursday met in Paris to discuss international support for the cash-strapped Lebanese army and the creation of a new force to succeed a longstanding UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon.

The next round of talks between Israel and Lebanon, mediated by the US, has been postponed as Israeli forces continue to strike southern Lebanon. The talks were scheduled to take place in Rome this month but will now be held in October.

Peacekeepers in Lebanon have reported a marked deterioration in the security situation along the Blue Line of separation, with Israeli forces intensifying their military footprint in violation of a landmark Security Council resolution, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said on Thursday. … Violence rose sharply in August, with the mission recording 56 projectiles from the Israeli military on 1 September alone, a figure that climbed to 84 the following day. 

Lebanon and Israel signed a framework deal in late June that calls for the disarmament of Hezbollah, a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from south Lebanon and the deployment of the Lebanese army to the region. Naim Qassem deemed the agreement 'illegitimate, unlawful, humiliating, destructive to Lebanese sovereignty.'

Damaged roads, disrupted services and ongoing military activity continue to put civilians at risk in south Lebanon as strikes between Israeli forces and Hezbollah continue, according to the UN’s peacekeeping mission in the country (UNIFIL).

Italy has proposed an alternative to replace the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon after UNIFIL's mandate expires at the end of this year as Lebanese authorities work to preserve an international security presence in the south amid ongoing tensions between Israel and Hezbollah. The local LBCI [Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation International] station reviewed published some details from the four-page proposal on Monday.

[…] Worryingly, one year on from the Security Council’s decision, and with the end of the mission’s mandate only months away, there is not yet an agreed plan for what happens after UNIFIL leaves.

Around 860,000 people displaced by the conflict in southern Lebanon have returned, but the displacement and humanitarian crisis are “far from over,” the UN warned on Tuesday.

Israel said it carried out retaliatory strikes against the Iran-backed militant group, but Lebanon's prime minister said seven people killed in one of the strikes were not 'military targets' and urged Israel to halt an 'extremely dangerous' escalation.

The Israeli military has announced that two of its soldiers have been killed in combat in southern Lebanon, after it launched retaliatory strikes that killed at least one person. … It came as Israeli and Lebanese officials attended another round of US-sponsored talks in Rome aimed at maintaining the ceasefire that ended a conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.