European foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg on Monday agreed to establish a support mission to the Lebanese army with an initial mandate of three years.
The mission will work to strengthen the capacity of the Lebanese army and the Internal Security Forces, as well as to support maritime security, the European Council said in a statement.
The training mission is part of a European effort to retain an international presence in Lebanon after the UN Interim Force withdraws on December 31. Unifil has been deployed on the southern border with Israel since 1978, at the start of a 22-year Israeli occupation of south Lebanon.
“Europe is invested in Lebanon's future,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said. “With this new mission – a major update of our security ties – we continue to support the country’s institutions in restoring full sovereignty and building lasting stability for the Lebanese people.”
The European Union Support Mission in Lebanon, or EUSM Lebanon, will co-ordinate closely with the UN and other international partners supporting Lebanon's security sector, the European Council said.
Military surveillance
Support for the army will include land border surveillance and control, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, counter-smuggling and operational co-ordination. The ISF will be trained in areas such as combating cybercrime and smuggling.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the EU mission would replace the army to support the Lebanese police in their day-to-day duties, so that it could focus on its core work.
Dylan Macchiarini Crosson, EU researcher at think tank International Crisis Group, said that while EUSM Lebanon would not replace Unifil, it would be a centrepiece of the bloc's engagement in the country.
He called on the EU to deploy quickly, building on the €160 million in military assistance it has provided over the past three years.
“Yet the mission does not directly address the core security concern for Lebanon and its international partners: maintaining an international presence in the south to support the Lebanese state, prevent Hezbollah’s military resurgence and deter further Israeli intervention,” Mr Crosson said.
“The initiative nevertheless gives the EU more entry points. It should use its channels and leverage to press Israel and Hezbollah to abide by the ceasefire, advocate for a reconstituted international force in the south – perhaps one led by some EU member states – and expand humanitarian and development assistance.”
France and Italy are looking into establishing a separate mission to help the Lebanese army disarm Hezbollah, but this has yet to take shape. European states have no intention of directly being in charge of disarming the pro-Iran militia, which kept its weapons after the end of the civil war in 1990 to fight the Israeli occupation.
The hope is that disarming Hezbollah would encourage the withdrawal of Israel, which currently occupies roughly 7 per cent of southern Lebanese territory and has destroyed a number of villages to establish a so-called buffer zone. US-brokered peace talks have stalled as Israel says it will withdraw only if Hezbollah disarms but Lebanon wants Israel to withdraw first.
Western states have long pressured the Lebanese government to disarm Hezbollah, which they consider a terrorist organisation. But Lebanese politicians have lacked the political will – Hezbollah being represented in arliament – to pit the historically weak Lebanese army against the regional militia's powerful military arsenal.