China urges reversal of UNIFIL departure from Lebanon as conflict escalates

The UNIFIL has faced a growing number of casualties as Israel continues air raids despite a ceasefire and Hezbollah has responded with rockets and drones.China’s ambassador to the United Nations, Fu Cong, has said there is a need to re-examine the UN Security Council’s decision to terminate the mandate of the longstanding peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, which is due to end later this year.Speaking to reporters on Friday at the UN headquarters in New York, Ambassador Fu expressed China’s deep concern about the situation in Lebanon as Beijing assumed the council’s rotating presidency for May.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Peru probes trafficking of citizens to fight for Russia in Ukrainelist 2 of 3Havana slams new Trump sanctions as ‘collective punishment’ of Cuban peoplelist 3 of 3Iran war protester speaks to Al Jazeera from top of Washington bridgeend of listHe observed that a genuine ceasefire did not exist in Lebanon, describing the current state of conflict as merely a “lesser fire”.“We do believe that we should revisit the decision, actually, to withdraw the UNIFIL,” Fu said, using the acronym for the UN Interim Force in Lebanon.“I think at least the view of the overwhelming majority of the Security Council is that this is not the time to really, to withdraw the UNIFIL out of that part of the country,” Fu said.China is waiting for a report from the UN secretariat, expected in June, “before we take our position”, he added.Fu also said, “It is incumbent on Israel to stop this bombardment of Lebanon.”China’s UN Ambassador Fu Cong addresses a UNSC meeting in 2025 [File: Richard Drew/AP]Created to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops after the 1978 invasion, UNIFIL saw its mandate expanded after the 2006 war between Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah and was responsible for a demilitarised buffer between the opposing sides.However, the UNSC unanimously resolved last year to begin withdrawing the UNIFIL mission’s 10,800 international peacekeepers by December 2026.