The U.N. peacekeeping chief says diplomatic efforts toward a cease-fire in Lebanon are “encouraging,” and that the United Nations is working on the role its peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon could play after the Israel-Hezbollah war ends.
Jean-Pierre Lacroix, who just returned from Lebanon and Israel, told reporters Tuesday that the U.N. is proceeding on the basis that Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, will remain the framework for a settlement .
Key will be the resolution’s demand for Lebanon’s armed forces to deploy throughout the south to assert the country’s sovereignty, Lacroix said.
The resolution calls for U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, to support the implementation of the resolution’s provisions, and Lacroix says he stressed the importance of “genuine political will” to achieve that.