The United Nations is keen on strengthening the presence of the Lebanese army in the South and develop its maritime capacities.
It made its call amid the stability in the region and cooperation between the military and UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and lack of any new initiative to demarcate the maritime borders, an issue that lies outside the peacekeeping force’s jurisdiction.
UN Undersecretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix made this demand during meetings with Lebanese officials this week, ministerial sources told Asharq Al-Awsat on Tuesday.
The official also expressed the international organization’s desire to enhance the participation of the army in the maritime force operated by UNIFIL, they revealed.
Lacroix had arrived in Lebanon earlier this week and he held talks on Tuesday with President Michel Aoun, Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil and Army Commander Major General Joseph Aoun.
Ministerial sources monitoring the visit told Asharq Al-Awsat that the official confirmed that the UN is committed to implementing Security Council resolution 1701, praising the ongoing cooperation between the army and UNIFIL.
After meeting the president, Lacroix said: "We confirmed to President Aoun our readiness to carry on cooperation with the new government, and this is an opportunity to launch several key projects for Lebanon.”
For his part, Aoun commended the strong cooperation between the army and UNIFIL, underlining the need to end the repeated Israeli violations of Lebanon's sovereignty.
The sources said that although UNIFIL was not responsible for demarcating the maritime borders, Aoun discussed the issue with Lacroix, saying that Lebanon was still facing Israeli opposition to the demarcation of the maritime borders in the Exclusive Economic Zone.
