UNIFIL hands over position in southern Lebanon to Lebanese army

The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) officially handed over a military position to the Lebanese army in southern Lebanon’s Khardali area on Thursday, Anadolu reports.

The move comes as part of a broader plan to transfer several longstanding UNIFIL positions to Lebanese army control.

According to the Lebanese National News Agency (NNA), the position — located near an army facility in the Khardali-Litani area — was handed over to the Lebanese army’s 7th Brigade.

The handover comes in line with a UN Security Council decision to end UNIFIL’s mission in Lebanon by the end of this year.

It also comes amid efforts to implement security arrangements linked to a “framework agreement” signed between Lebanon and Israel in late June.

The agreement calls for Israel’s gradual withdrawal from Lebanese territories that it occupied earlier to allow the Lebanese army to deploy in those areas.

In reference to Lebanon’s Hezbollah, the agreement also calls for the disarmament of “armed groups.”

UNIFIL’s mandate in southern Lebanon is set to expire at the end of this year amid ongoing discussions over the future of the peacekeeping force’s mission.

UNIFIL has been deployed in southern Lebanon since 1978 in line with UN Security Council resolutions that grant it a mandate to ensure the cessation of hostilities and maintain security in the area.