The death of a French peacekeeper in embattled south Lebanon has highlighted the security of the area, a month after three Indonesian peacekeepers were killed in separate incidents.
The UN mission in Lebanon, Unifil, is scheduled to start withdrawing its forces of 7,500 peacekeepers at the end of the year after the US last summer vetoed the renewal of its mandate at the UN Security Council with Israeli support.
The decision has raised questions about how the border area will be policed in the future. Israel and Lebanon have not signed a peace agreement since the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. For more than four decades, Unifil monitored the so-called Blue Line, supported the Lebanese army in disarming Hezbollah and conducted humanitarian operations.
Future plan
Behind the scenes, diplomats in New York, Paris and Brussels are working on a day after plan, The National understands.
Although most UN members are open to Unifil remaining in Lebanon beyond December, there seems little point in pushing back against the US and Israel, which are resolute in demanding its mandate ends, said Daniel Forti, head of UN affairs at the International Crisis Group.
“They are instead attempting to lay the political and operational groundwork for a configuration that could succeed the UN mission,” Mr Forti told The National.
France, which has colonial ties with Lebanon, has led talks in laying the ground for post-Unifil scenarios in southern Lebanon.
“As the end of Unifil's mandate approaches, we must, together with the Lebanese authorities and other countries involved, prepare for the future so that the Lebanese state can fully exercise its monopoly on arms, its sovereignty, and thus protect all communities,” French Foreign Ministry spokesman Pascal Confavreux told The National. “France will remain committed, particularly in southern Lebanon.”
Unifil has been historically viewed with suspicion by both Hezbollah and Israel, which has blamed it for failing to disarm the Iran-backed militia. The mission's defenders highlight it only had a support role and that the Lebanese army lacked the means and international backing to do so. They also argue that having the UN in the field is a deterrent.
Speaking to journalists on Tuesday, shortly before President Emmanuel Macron was scheduled to host Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam in Paris, an advisor to the French president said that talks were ongoing with European countries already invested in Unifil, including Spain, Italy and Germany.
"These actors today contribute quite directly to the reflection on what an international force in support of the Lebanese Government could look like," they said, adding this did not mean they would be necessary involved in Lebanon after the UN mission's withdrawal.
US veto
In August 2025, the US approved Unifil's renewal for the final time, its acting ambassador Dorothea Shea said, as she called on the Lebanese army to “assume greater responsibility.” Washington had initially wanted Unifil to pack its bags within weeks, but France succeeded in negotiating an 18-month extension, The National understands.
The resolution adopted on August 28 requested UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to explore, by June 1, “options for assistance in respect of security and monitoring of the Blue Line and the ways to enhance the support to the LAF [Lebanese Armed Forces] redeployment in south of Litani River through United Nations’ tools.”
Paris hoped that would give time for the Lebanese army to take up station in the south, a Hezbollah stronghold, while also extending support to the Lebanese government. Lebanon's leaders have recently, and in a historic first, set out a plan to disarm the militia and insisted that weapons should be in control of the state.
This is hard to sell internally as many fear it will cause internal strife in a country scarred by sectarian divisions. Hezbollah – also a powerful political party largely supported by the Shiite population – was the only militia to remain armed after the 1975-1990 civil war with the aim of fighting Israel. It was created in 1982 in response to Israel's first invasion of southern Lebanon in 1976, with the goal at the time of pushing out Palestinian fighters.
Two years later, Unifil was deployed in south Lebanon. In 2000, Israel withdrew from the area, largely because of Hezbollah's guerrilla tactics. Israel's attempts at destroying Hezbollah in the following years largely failed, but it finally succeeded in weakening the group in 2024.
War again
In early March, Hezbollah launched missiles at Israel in solidarity with Iran after joint US-Israeli strikes against the country. Hezbollah's attacks did not cause casualties. But they triggered Israeli retaliation which has so far killed about 2,200 Lebanese.
Before the latest escalation, plans had been floated to reinforce other UN missions such as the UN political mission based in Beirut – Unscol – or the Jerusalem-based UN truce supervision organisation – Untso – so that they could send observers to the Blue Line. In parallel, the EU could have overseen the deployment of an observation mission within the Lebanese army.
These ideas have since been largely shelved. Conditions on the ground have become far more dangerous than when the final extension of Unifil was agreed. Paris had to cancel a March 5 conference in support of the Lebanese army following the start of the Iran war. France was also pushed out of Lebanon peace talks by Israel, raising questions about its ability to influence any future framework in the border area.
“The notion that the UN and Europeans could share these responsibilities makes sense on paper. But the primary challenge confronting any multilateral arrangement in southern Lebanon will be political and not operational,” Mr Forti said.
Questioned by The National this month, EU Commission spokesman for foreign affairs, Anouar El Anouni, declined to elaborate on the bloc's thinking on the future of Unifil. “We will continue to support Lebanon alongside our member states and in co-ordination with the United Nations,” he said.
Should a future observation mission in south Lebanon arise, it is unlikely to be armed, raising further questions about whether states would feel comfortable dispatching observers to a high-risk environment.
“Unifil peacekeepers carry weapons and are authorised to use force only in limited situations, but having only unarmed peacekeepers would still be a very different scenario,” Unifil spokeswoman Kandice Ardiel told The National.
Her predecessor Andrea Tenenti, who left the job in September after two decades, thinks there may still be a role for Unifil.
“At some point, after another cessation of hostilities, the international community and the US will understand the need to have the Lebanese army in southern Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah,” he said.
“The US won't do it. Even Israel was not able to do it in the past years of conflict. To be frank, it's more convenient for the main stakeholders to have a peacekeeping mission that you can blame to do the job instead of doing it yourself.”
Destroyed bridges
Israel's destruction of most of the bridges linking southern Lebanon to the rest of the country has also raised questions on Unifil's ability to withdraw. This week, the Lebanese army started building a temporary bridge and repair roads.
“You're looking at withdrawing 7,500 troops in a complicated situation. Right now, we are dealing with unexploded ordinance in the road and roadblocks,” Ms Ardiel said.
“Most of the bridges have been destroyed in recent weeks. Hopefully, they will be restored, but if we are in that scenario again, we would have to take detours or build our own bridges. All of this would make things extremely complicated.”
The future of political negotiations looks bleak as Tehran continues to tie its own regional ceasefire to the situation in Lebanon, despite a fragile 10-day ceasefire agreed last week by Israel under US pressure.
“There will need to be some sort of political understanding between Lebanon and Israel to underpin any international arrangement that follows Unifil. Without that framework, any multilateral operation will face an uphill battle,” Mr Forti said.
Meanwhile, Israeli tanks have obstructed the Blue Helmets' freedom of movement, interrupting Unifil's supply chains and causing some isolated Nepalese positions to nearly run out of water this month.
In late March, one Indonesian peacekeeper was killed by an Israeli strike, while two others died the next day in a roadside bomb planted by Hezbollah, according to Unifil's preliminary findings published on April 7.
French media also reported that Israeli soldiers pointed their weapons at Unifil's chief of staff, Paul Sanzey, who is French, before firing at two separate convoys, without causing casualties. They were “unjustifiable” acts of “intimidation,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said.
Saturday, a French soldier died in a shooting incident likely involving Hezbollah members. “France demands that the Lebanese authorities immediately arrest the perpetrators and take their responsibilities alongside Unifil,” Mr said on X.
The incident happened as the soldier's team tried to remove a roadside bomb despite a group of Lebanese men telling them to stop, a French source told daily Le Monde.
“The French soldiers saw those who were shooting at them. They were Hezbollah members,” the source is quoted as saying. He added that “there was no decision from [Hezbollah's] central command” to target them.
The incident is still under investigation, Unifil said.
Now, Israel is in the process of establishing a 10km buffer zone inside Lebanon along the Blue Line by dynamiting civilian buildings in the areas of Bint Jbeil, Marjayoun, and Tyre, according to Lebanese media. Israel said it needs to protect itself from Hezbollah.
Observers like French President Emmanuel Macron's special envoy to Lebanon, Jean-Yves Le Drian, have said this will strengthen the popularity of armed resistance to the Israeli occupation – Hezbollah's motto. This could further fuel the more than four decade old cycle of violence in south Lebanon.
