UN warns of security gap in south Lebanon if peacekeepers leave
Lacroix urged the Security Council to decide what would replace the UN mission in Lebanon, as Lebanese officials voiced concern over losing it.
The UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix warned on Wednesday that a planned pullout of UN troops from Lebanon could leave the border area less stable, Turkey's state-run news agency Anadolu Agency reported.
Speaking to reporters after a trip to the Middle East, Lacroix said he had asked the Security Council to spell out what would take the mission's place.
He said Lebanese officials had raised concerns about losing a neutral presence that has helped stop misunderstandings and kept lines of communication open between the two sides.
Lacroix questioned whether the Lebanese army and the Israeli military could be left facing each other with no third party in between.
The UN Interim Force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, has watched the Blue Line border for decades, reported violations and helped aid reach southern Lebanon.
Lacroix said about 10,000 people still live in the strip between Israel's forward defense line and the Blue Line, which gives the mission's humanitarian work particular weight.
He warned that the mission's departure would leave gaps in monitoring, in coordinating aid convoys and in preventing unintended escalation.
The withdrawal has the backing of Israel and the United States, which both favor ending the mission, but the UN has yet to receive clear guidance from the Security Council on any successor arrangement.
Lacroix said withdrawal plans were ready but flexible enough to allow for a possible future UN presence.
UNIFIL has operated in southern Lebanon since 1978, and its future has been debated in the Security Council as tensions along the border have continued.
