United Nations, Aug 31 (IANS/RIA Novosti)The UN Security Council has extended its peacekeeping mission in Lebanon for another year by unanimously adopting a resolution Thursday.
The resolution extends the mandate of the 11,500-strong UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) until Aug 31, 2013, UN spokesperson Farhan Haq told journalists.
The UN force has been in southern Lebanon since 1978 but was expanded after a 2006 war between Israel and Lebanon’s political party and militant Shia Muslim force, Hezbollah.
UNIFIL is tasked with overseeing a peace along the border between Lebanon and Israel.
The council condemned “all attempts to threaten the security and stability of Lebanon, reaffirming its determination to ensure that no such acts of intimidation will prevent UNIFIL from implementing its mandate.”
Five UN peacekeepers were killed by a roadside bomb in December, in an attack that UN chief Ban Ki-moon said “deeply disturbed” him.
–IANS/RIA Novosti
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