UNIFIL Is Preparing to Leave Lebanon. Ending the Mission Is Not the Same as Ending the Conflict.
World / The transition UNIFIL Is Preparing to Leave Lebanon. Ending the Mission Is Not the Same as Ending the Conflict. UNIFIL’s mandate ends in December, but the handover, monitoring and civilian needs in southern Lebanon still require a workable successor plan. NewJinMedia · November 12, 2026 Peacekeeping and civilian transition analysis Chamaa village and the UNIFIL Sector West headquarters, viewed from Chamaa Castle in December 2019. Archival context only, not a photograph of the current withdrawal or present conditions. Photo: RomanDeckert / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized without cropping. Original photograph · CC BY-SA 4.0 . A peacekeeping mission can have a fixed end date while the conflict around it remains unresolved. That is the problem now facing southern Lebanon. The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, is approaching the end of its mandate after almost five decades. Its departure is a decision already taken by the Security Council, not a fr...