European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas speaks during a joint news conference with Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026. (AP Photo)
Visiting EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told AFP on Oct. 8 that the bloc was in favor of extending the mandate of United Nations peacekeepers in Lebanon, which is to expire this year.
“Our member states have been saying that there can’t be any security vacuum in southern Lebanon, so everybody is worried about the UNIFIL mandate ending,” she said in an interview during a visit to
Lebanon where she met senior officials.
“It would be most welcomed if this mandate is extended, so that is the position of the member states,” she added.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, which now counts some 7,500 personnel from nearly 50 countries, has been in place since 1978, although its presence has not prevented repeated outbreaks of conflict.
Under U.S. pressure, the U.N. Security Council voted last year to end UNIFIL’s mandate on Dec. 31, 2026.
But in March, Lebanese militant group Hezbollah drew the country into the broader Middle East war by attacking Israel, which responded with massive airstrikes and a ground invasion that Lebanon says have killed more than 4,300 people.
Israel maintains troops in a self-declared “security zone” running around 10 kilometers (six miles) inside Lebanon along the border.
