Senior Diplomat: The European Mission in Lebanon Will Support Disarming Hezbollah

Listen to the article, the audio text is automatically generated by a machine system.

As the mission of the "UNIFIL" forces in southern Lebanon is expected to end by the end of this year, a senior European diplomatic official confirmed that the European security mission in Lebanon will not replace UNIFIL.

The diplomat explained to Al Arabiya/Al Hadath on Tuesday that the European security mission will support the Lebanese army in disarming Hezbollah.

Talk about this mission began some time ago, with several countries expressing their readiness to provide resources, personnel, training, and logistical support to the Lebanese army and security forces, especially with the end of the UNIFIL mission and its non-renewal by the United Nations.

The focus of this mission's work is to support and develop the capabilities of the internal security forces and the Lebanese armed forces in order to enable them to maintain stability.

Its work also includes enabling the army to assert the authority of the state and move towards the southern border areas, and to focus on implementing international decisions, including addressing the issue of weapons and restricting them to the hands of the state.

It is noteworthy that the United Nations Security Council had decided to end the UNIFIL mission by the end of 2026, with the Lebanese army taking responsibility for security in the region.

Meanwhile, France and Italy announced their support for launching a new European mission to support Lebanon after the end of the UN mission, while the nature of the final mandate for this force remains a subject of discussion among European countries and the concerned parties.