NEAR MANSOURI, Lebanon: The head of United Nations peacekeepers in Lebanon said on Saturday it was critical to ensure other UN agencies and Lebanese troops could assume the tasks carried out by the force before it begins withdrawing at the end of this year. Major General Diodato Abagnara of Italy spoke as a new war erupted between Israel and Iran-backed Lebanese armed group Hezbollah in March.
The force has provided security escorts for humanitarian aid convoys to residents in a small cluster of predominantly Christian southern Lebanese towns now encircled by Israeli troops. Residents in much of the rest of southern Lebanon have been forcibly displaced by Israeli strikes and evacuation orders. The UN Security Council has ordered UNIFIL to begin withdrawing at the end of the year, triggering concerns over whether aid deliveries can continue and how the force can transfer its positions to Lebanese troops.
"There are other United Nations entities here in the south, and so what is very important for us is to conduct a very smooth transition to different entities, or for the future of a new mission," Abagnara told reporters. He said UNIFIL was already working with the UN's country team to ensure humanitarian assistance in Israeli-occupied areas and information sharing with the Lebanese army about sensitive areas and how they can manage this situation.
Abagnara acknowledged that it could be very difficult to hand over some of UNIFIL's posts to Lebanese troops given that more than half lie within areas now controlled by Israeli troops. Diplomats worry UNIFIL's departure will mean an end to the UN's eyes and ears in southern Lebanon. Abagnara described demolitions as another violation of UN Security Council resolutions on Lebanon, while Israel's military maintains it is destroying Hezbollah infrastructure across the region.