Lazaro urges Israel to 'withdraw completely from Lebanese territory'
BEIRUT — UNIFIL Force Commander Major General Aroldo Lazaro urged on Tuesday the Israeli army to "withdraw completely from Lebanese territory, and not to target prefabricated rooms in border villages."
Local media outlets reported Lazaro's comments, which were delivered during a meeting held at the Jdeidet Marjeyoun municipality building on Tuesday as his tenure as UNIFIL commander nears its end.
"Any situation that may lead to an escalation of confrontation must be avoided, ... and we will do our best in this regard in line with Resolution 1701, in order to contribute to this stability, and we urge the Israeli army to withdraw completely from Lebanese territory, and not to target prefabricated rooms in border villages", Lazaro said.
Despite the ceasefire agreement reached in late Nov. 2024, two months after the escalation of the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel, the Israeli army continues to carry out airstrikes on a nearly daily basis in Lebanon and is still present in five strategic points in the southern part of the country.
The UNIFIL commander added that although the situation in Southern Lebanon is "now more stable than it was a few months ago", it is still fragile.
"I emphasize that the solution in this region can only be achieved through political decisions, not through us or through military actions", Lazaro added.
The UNIFIL Commander praised the efforts of the Lebanese government, political parties and local officials for their determination to create the necessary conditions to hold the municipal elections, despite the many challenges currently facing the country, calling this achievement a "courageous and necessary challenge for Lebanon's democratic future."
The municipal and mukhtar elections will be held in Southern Lebanon on Saturday, May 24. This will be the fourth round of a municipal election spread over three Sundays and one Saturday in May 2025. These elections have been postponed three times, in 2022, 2023, and 2024. On Sunday, May 4, the election took place in the governorates of Mount Lebanon, on the 11th, they will occur in North Lebanon and Akkar, and on May 18, in the Bekaa, the Baalbeck-Hermel region and Beirut.
'We recognize that the needs are great and UNIFIL will always stand by the Lebanese people to the best of our ability and within the framework of our mandate and U.N. Resolution 1701", Lazaro finally said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
LBCI
5 hours ago
- LBCI
Israel Hayom cites sources: Israel, US reportedly agree to end UNIFIL mission in South Lebanon
According to sources cited by Israel Hayom, Israel believes that coordination with the Lebanese Army is so effective that it renders the presence of UNIFIL unnecessary. The same sources stated that the United States and Israel have decided to end the UNIFIL mission in South Lebanon.
Ya Libnan
9 hours ago
- Ya Libnan
Lebanon FM stresses to Iranian counterpart the need to disarm Hezbollah
Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Raji informed his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, on Tuesday that Hezbollah put his country in a 'difficult situation' when it embarked on more than a year of fighting with Israel in 2023, and stressed the importance of disarming the Tehran-backed terror group. Araghchi met with Raji — a member of the Lebanese Forces party — in Beirut, on his first visit to Lebanon since October last year, when Hezbollah was in the midst of an all-out war with Israel in southern Lebanon. A month later, Beirut and Jerusalem would sign a ceasefire agreement that brought an end to the fighting During the meeting, Raji told Araghchi that recent 'military adventures' — an apparent reference to Hezbollah — had put the country in a 'difficult situation,' the Saudi Al Arabiya news outlet reported. These adventures, Raji told his Iranian counterpart, 'had not contributed to ending the Israeli occupation of Lebanese territory.' When Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon following the deployment of the Lebanese Armed Forces per the terms of the November 2024 ceasefire, it left troops stationed in five strategic hills located several hundred meters inside Lebanon, which it says are necessary to defend Israeli border communities. Six months on from the start of the ceasefire, the Lebanese state has been working methodically to dismantle Hezbollah infrastructure in the south of the country, and is estimated to have seized the majority of the group's weapons stockpile south of the Litani River area. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal last week, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said that his government had achieved 80 percent of its objectives regarding the disarmament of militias in the country's south. 'All over the Lebanese territory, the state should have a monopoly on arms,' Salam told the US outlet, stressing 'the need to extend and consolidate the authority of the state.' Echoing his prime minister on Tuesday, Raji appeared to take a firm stance against allowing Iran's agenda to influence Lebanon's future, telling Araghchi that the country's ability to recover from the recent fighting was tied to Hezbollah's disarmament, Al Arabiya reported. Unprovoked, Hezbollah began attacking military outposts and communities in northern Israel on October 8, 2023, in a show of support for fellow Iranian proxy Hamas in Gaza after its assault on southern Israel a day earlier. The fighting continued for more than a year, including some two months of open war in southern Lebanon, and ended with the ceasefire signed in late November. The fighting displaced over 1 million people inside Lebanon, and caused destruction that the World Bank has said will cost $11 billion in reconstruction. Raji informed Araghchi that 'coordination between Lebanon and Iran should occur through official state channels,' rather than via proxies like Hezbollah, which enjoys Tehran's support, monetary and otherwise, having received billions of dollars and all types of weapons over the years.
Ya Libnan
9 hours ago
- Ya Libnan
US and Israel agreed to end UNIFIL mission in south Lebanon
The United States and Israel agreed that United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) must cease its operations in southern Lebanon, The Jerusalem Post reported Sunday The American administration has decided not to renew UNIFIL's mandate, and Israel reportedly 'did not try to convince the US otherwise.' The vote on the mandate in the United Nations Security Council is expected to occur within a few months. UNIFIL's mandate was most recently renewed by the Security Council on August 28, 2024, through resolution 2749 (2024), extending it until August 31, 2025. This is a yearly renewal, requested by the Lebanese Government. What is UNIFIL? UNIFIL was created in 1978 following the First Lebanon War, and was founded with the intention of confirming Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon, as well as assisting the Lebanese government with restoring authority in the area. After the Second Lebanon War in 2006, UNIFIL's mandate was extended to monitor hostilities in the region and ensure humanitarian access to local civilian populations. UNIFIL currently has over 13,000 uniformed personnel, and its top military contributor is Indonesia . No officials from the US, Israel, or the UN have commented on the announcement. Source: Jerusalem Post
