The fate of UNIFIL is at stake… Washington resolves the extension controversy with a decisive decision

The United States of America officially announced a decisive stance towards the future of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), stressing that it does not support extending its mandate beyond the end of this year, in light of an American assessment stating that the mission has failed to achieve its goals.

In exclusive statements to Al Jazeera, an official in the US State Department explained that Washington refuses to renew UNIFIL after the end of its current mandate at the end of the year, considering that the international force “failed after 7 conflicts during its presence” in Lebanon. The same official pointed out that Hezbollah had built military infrastructure in the vicinity of the international force’s sites.

This American approach coincides with the approaching end of the mandate of the UN mission in southern Lebanon, which places the future of the international force at the top of the local and international political agenda, especially in light of parliamentary and political efforts to contain the situation and avoid any potential security vacuum in the south after the end of the mission’s duties, especially after the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2790 related to UNIFIL.