UN Special Coordinator Ján Kubiš and USG Jean-Pierre Lacroix briefed the Security Council on the situation in Lebanon, during its regular meeting on implementation of UNSCR 1701. 

The Members of the Security Council commended the key and continued efforts of UNIFIL to maintain calm along the Blue Line, its cooperation with the Lebanese Armed Forces with the aim of extending the control of the Government of Lebanon over all Lebanese territory, and stressed the importance of UNIFIL being able to fulfil its mandate. 

The Members of the Security Council expressed their deep concern following the recent incidents, which occurred across the Blue Line and in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon’s (UNIFIL) area of operations as well as all the violations of UNSCR1701, including by land and air. They recalled that all parties should make every effort to ensure that the cessation of hostilities is sustained, exercise maximum calm and restraint and refrain from any action or rhetoric that could jeopardize the cessation of hostilities or destabilize the region. The Members of the Security Council welcomed the will of the concerned parties to make the best use of the tripartite mechanism. They condemned any attacks against UNIFIL peacekeepers.

In addition to those exchanges on the implementation of UNSCR1701 and considering the major and acute crisis Lebanon is now facing, the Members of the Security Council took due note of the approval, by the Government of Lebanon, of an economic plan as well as of its decision to request an IMF program. They took note of the urgent need for the Lebanese authorities to respond to the aspirations of the Lebanese people by implementing meaningful economic reforms, and notably the commitments made in the framework of the CEDRE conference as well as at the International Support Group for Lebanon meeting held in Paris on the 11th of December. On the basis of those necessary reforms, the Members of the Security Council expressed support to Lebanon to help it exit the current crisis and to address the economic, security, humanitarian challenges , as well as the impact of COVID-19 facing the country, and called the international community, including international organizations, to do so.

The Members of the Security Council recognised the additional challenges posed by the global COVID pandemic, also on the Lebanese economy, and commended the preventive measures taken by UNIFIL in that regard.

The Members of the Security Council reaffirmed their strong support for the stability, security, territorial integrity, sovereignty, and political independence of Lebanon, in accordance with relevant UNSCRs.