Lebanese President Joseph Aoun will head to Rome this week for talks on the future of the United Nations peacekeeping force in south Lebanon, whose mandate ends this year, a Lebanese official told the AFP news agency.
The visit scheduled for Thursday comes after Italy and France said in June that they wanted to set up a multinational coalition to succeed the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL.
Both countries provide the U.N. force with large troop contingents.
Aoun is to meet his counterpart Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to discuss “the future of the international forces, particularly in light of the French-Italian initiative to set up a force to replace UNIFIL,” the official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Aoun will also meet Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican and brief him on “the contacts Lebanon has been making since negotiations began” with Israel, the official added.
Aoun has said Lebanon’s preferred choice is an extension of UNIFIL’s mandate, a move opposed by Israel.
On Monday, he said “the second choice is adopting a formula that ensures the continued presence of international forces in the south,” alongside Lebanon’s army.
A framework agreement reached in June between Israel and Lebanon calls for the disarmament of Iran-backed Hezbollah, a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from south Lebanon and the deployment of the Lebanese army to the region.
Despite a weeks-long lull in fighting, Israel has kept up intermittent strikes and heavy demolition operations in south Lebanon, where its forces have occupied a strip of land stretching around six miles into Lebanese territory.
-CBS/AFP
