France's Foreign Minister has underlined the need for a “new international framework” to support Lebanese security forces after the mandate of the UN peacekeeping mission in south Lebanon (Unifil) expires at the end of the year.
Jean-Noel Barrot, who was accompanied on a weekend visit to Beirut by Alice Rufo, the French Armed Forces Minister, said a “security vacuum” must not develop when Unifil ends its mission after nearly five decades.
Post-Unifil international presence and support is still to be defined but French diplomatic sources said ahead of the visit that any security vacuum in south Lebanon would be “extremely dangerous”.
Mr Barrot and Ms Rufo held meetings with senior Lebanese officials during their visit, including President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and army commander Gen Rodolphe Haykal.
While Mr Aoun would prefer to extend Unifil's mandate, he said if that were not possible, Beirut would welcome “any formula that ensures an international presence in the south”.
The US and Israel pressured the UN to end Unifil's mandate, saying the force was partly to blame for the failure to prevent repeated conflicts across the Blue Line, the UN-demarcated border that separates southern Lebanon and Israel.
The French ministers stressed the need to support the underfunded and under-equipped Lebanese Armed Forces as it continues with the uphill task of bringing all weapons under state control. This would mean disarming Hezbollah, which the Iran-backed Lebanese armed group and political party has so far resisted.
Israel's military currently occupies about 65 towns and villages in southern Lebanon, where it has declared a security zone along the border after the latest round of fighting with Hezbollah broke out in early March.
Last week, the European Union announced the establishment of a support mission for the Lebanese Armed Forces, with an initial mandate of three years.
The mission will work to strengthen the capacity of the Lebanese Armed Forces and the Internal Security Forces, as well as supporting maritime security, although EU leaders have stressed it is not intended as a replacement for Unifil.