Andrea Tenenti, the spokesperson for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), has declared that the international mission will persist with its operations in Lebanon despite the ongoing battles in the south.
In a statement to the Italian news agency ANSA, Tenenti described the situation in Lebanon as “concerning,” but affirmed that the mission remains active.
“We continue to work… The only change has been an increase in alertness and caution,” he said.
Tenenti highlighted that any decision to withdraw UNIFIL would require a resolution from the UN Security Council.
However, he noted that participating countries are at liberty to decide independently whether to withdraw their troops and return them home.
This announcement comes amid heightened alerts from the United Kingdom and Italy, advising their nationals in Lebanon to immediately return on commercial flights and cautioning their tourists against travelling to Lebanon at this time.
The concern escalates amidst fears of a full-scale war between Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Israeli military, following days of tension after a rocket attack on a Druze town in the occupied Golan Heights, which Israel attributed to Hezbollah, though the group has denied any involvement or connection to the attack.
Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati affirmed the country’s right to defend its land, sovereignty, and dignity “by all means available” in response to “systematic and dangerous Israeli escalation.”
In his address, Mikati highlighted that the people of the South, the Bekaa, and recently Beirut’s southern suburbs face ongoing Israeli assaults that have resulted in “hundreds of martyrs and injured civilians, soldiers, and resistance fighters, displacing families and destroying homes and properties.”
