UN Security Council to vote Thursday on resolution to wind down UNIFIL at end of 2026

UNITED NATIONS — The Security Council scheduled a vote Thursday on a resolution that would end the more than four-decade operation of the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon on December 31, 2026.

Two council diplomats say that the United States, which has been demanding that the force known as UNIFIL be terminated in a year, doesn’t object to a French draft resolution with that end date in 16 months.

That signals the resolution will be approved, but it’s not clear whether the United States will vote in favor or abstain, the diplomats say, speaking on condition of anonymity because negotiations have been private.

UNIFIL was created to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon after Israel’s 1978 invasion. Its mission was expanded following the monthlong 2006 war between Israel and the terrorist group Hezbollah.

The resolution would terminate UNIFIL’s mandate and halt its operations at the end of 2026. The process of withdrawing its 10,800 military and civilian personnel and equipment would start immediately in consultation with the Lebanese government, to be completed within a year.

The draft says the aim is to make the Lebanese government “the sole provider of security” in southern Lebanon north of the UN-drawn border with Israel known as the Blue Line. It calls on Israel to withdraw its forces from north of the Blue Line.