The China Mail - UN Security Council delegation urges all sides to stick to Lebanon truce

A November 2024 ceasefire was supposed to end more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah militants, but Israel has kept up strikes on Lebanon.

Israel has mainly said it is targeting the Iran-backed group, and has maintained troops in five south Lebanon areas it deems strategic.

"We came to Beirut at a pivotal time for the implementation of... the cessation of hostilities agreement of November of last year," Slovenian UN ambassador Samuel Zbogar, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the UN body, told reporters.

"All parties must uphold the November 2024 cessation of hostilities agreement, and we recognise progress achieved by Lebanon this year," he said.

"We reaffirm the council's support for Lebanon's territorial integrity, sovereignty and political independence."

"We also reaffirm commitment to the full implementation of Resolution 1701 in support of Lebanon's -- as well as regional -- security and stability," he added, referring to a 2006 Security Council decision that forms the basis of the current truce.

Under heavy US pressure and fears of expanded Israeli strikes, Lebanon's government has committed to disarming Hezbollah, and the army is set to dismantle the group's military infrastructure near the border by year end before tackling the rest of the country.

"We support the Lebanese government's decision to ensure the state's monopoly of arms," Zbogar said, also urging "intensified international support" for Lebanon's army.

The delegation met senior officials including President Joseph Aoun, and on Saturday went to conflict-hit south Lebanon near the Israeli border, visiting peacekeepers from the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

In August, the Security Council voted to extend UNIFIL's mandate until the end of 2026 and then withdraw the force from Lebanon by the end of the following year.

The visit was a chance to "examine options for the implementation of Resolution 1701 following UNIFIL's departure from Lebanon", Zbogar said, adding that "this is a topic that will deserve a thorough conversation during 2026".

Zbogar also emphasised that the "safety of peacekeepers must be respected and that they must never be targeted", after Lebanon's army said it arrested six people following an attack by gunmen on UNIFIL personnel this week.

Aoun told the delegation on Friday that Lebanon does not want war with Israel, days after civilian representatives from both sides held their first talks in decades.

B.Carter--ThChM