Lebanon's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants in the caretaker government, Abdullah Bukhbih, announced that efforts are underway to amend the clause included in last year's renewal decision for UNIFIL, which stated that "UNIFIL does not need prior permission from anyone to carry out its assigned tasks, and is allowed to conduct its operations independently." He noted that the text of the amendment will be distributed next week to the concerned countries.
In a statement to the newspaper "Asharq Al-Awsat," he indicated that "the rules that were in place have not fundamentally changed in practice on the ground over the past year, based on the fact that international forces have full freedom of movement within the framework of sovereignty and according to previous international resolutions, in coordination with the Lebanese government through the Lebanese army, ensuring the safety of these forces and the achievement of their missions, while addressing the concerns and fears of the residents who have long suffered from occupation."
He clarified that "the Lebanese army has 2,000 personnel in the area of UNIFIL's operations, while the number of these forces is 10,000, conducting 400 patrols daily; therefore, the army cannot accompany all these patrols, and it determines which patrols should be accompanied to carry out their tasks safely."
