Overview

• The Council renewed UNIFIL’s mandate one last time through 31 December 2026 and scheduled an ordered drawdown starting then to finish within a year.
• After the withdrawal, the resolution designates the Lebanese Armed Forces as the sole security provider in southern Lebanon.
• The text urges Israel to remove forces from north of the Blue Line, including five positions it maintains on Lebanese territory.
• U.S. and Israeli pressure drove a shorter timeline as France revised its draft to avert a possible American veto, while Lebanon’s prime minister welcomed the extension to 2026.
• On the ground, French peacekeepers displayed a Hezbollah bunker near El-Méri with a 152 mm gun and munitions, UNIFIL reported 318 weapons caches and 5,095 Israeli violations since November 27, and the Lebanese army said two soldiers were killed by an exploding Israeli drone near Naqura.