European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, emphasized that the United Nations Interim Force stationed in southern Lebanon (UNIFIL) should be used to its maximum potential rather than having its mission altered.
Speaking with reporters on the sidelines of the international conference on Lebanon which convened in Paris on Thursday, Borrel added “we have 10,000 men deployed on the border, and we could have 15,000 because 15,000 is the authorized number for UNIFIL.”
He asserted that it was possible to ask UNIFIL to do more, saying, “I think we need to explore every possibility to make UNIFIL more operational within its mandate.”
“Therefore, let’s accomplish what is feasible. Being quite practical, we can have 15,000 men if we have 10,000,” Borell indicated.
He went on to say, “I am a very pragmatic person, if we have 10,000 men, we can have 15,000,” advising to “use them before searching for alternatives that would always be challenging to implement”, while deliberations are taking place over the usefulness of changing the UNIFIL mandate.
Since Hezbollah opened the southern front against Israel after Hamas launched its historic attack from Gaza on October 7, 2023, UNIFIL has been trapped in the crossfire between Israel and the pro-Iranian group.
Josep Borrell criticized again the Israeli army firing on UNIFIL positions once more.
Earlier in the day, Borell had lamented the number of dead and the extent of damage inflicted by continuous Israeli strikes on various parts of the country on the fringes of Thursday’s international summit in Paris in support of Lebanon.
He cautioned, “This makes the situation in Lebanon even more fragile,” given that the nation has been dealing with a complex crisis since 2020.
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