Warning of a wider war
Speaking to France Info radio after visiting the French contingent in Lebanon, Lecornu said the peacekeeping mission must remain able to operate. Reuters reported that France had delivered that message to both sides.
"It is clear that we must not put UNIFIL in an untenable situation in which it will not be able to carry out the mission that the United Nations has given it," Lecornu said. "This is the message we are sending to the various actors, on the Lebanese side as well as on the Israeli side."
France has drawn on its historical ties with Lebanon in an effort to ease tensions between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah. Despite those efforts, violence has intensified. Cross-border exchanges between Hezbollah and Israeli forces began after the Hamas-Israel war broke out on October 7, producing the frontier's deadliest violence since the 2006 war.
Lecornu spoke ahead of an anticipated Friday address by Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and urged Lebanon's leaders to recognize the risks of war. "The war here in Lebanon would plunge part of the Middle East into an abyss, into an abyss which we would have difficulty collectively to get back up from," he said.
UNIFIL's troops and responsibilities
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, or UNIFIL, was created in 1978 following violence along the Israel-Lebanon border. Its roughly 700 French soldiers form part of a multinational force. The mission's press kit recorded 10,223 military personnel from 48 troop-contributing countries on March 12, 2023, with support from 775 international and national staff.
Security Council Resolution 1701 expanded UNIFIL's mandate in 2006 and authorized a force of up to 15,000 troops. Its responsibilities include monitoring the cessation of hostilities and helping keep the area between the Blue Line and the Litani River free of armed personnel, assets and weapons except those belonging to the Lebanese government and UNIFIL.
According to the press kit, the Security Council renews the mandate annually at the Lebanese government's request. Resolution 2650, adopted in 2022, extended it through August 2023.
Lebanon's unresolved leadership vacancy
Lecornu also criticized Lebanon's prolonged political paralysis. In June, President Emmanuel Macron appointed former Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian to help persuade rival political leaders to agree on a new head of state. The effort was intended to end more than a year of deadlock so Lebanon could pursue economic reforms and unlock vital foreign aid, but it had produced no breakthrough.
"It's clear that in the difficulties we are experiencing, not having a contact person for over a year now makes no sense. This weakens Lebanon even more," Lecornu said.
Statements and French aid announcements in 2023
In a speech on November 3, 2023, Nasrallah said further escalation on the Lebanese front was a realistic possibility and that total war was possible. He claimed Hezbollah was intensifying its operations daily, forcing Israel to retain troops near Lebanon rather than deploy them in Gaza and the West Bank.
During that period, France announced that the helicopter carrier Dixmude would follow the Tonnerre to the eastern Mediterranean off Gaza. Lecornu said work was underway to equip the Dixmude for use as a hospital vessel.
On November 6, 2023, Lecornu told Lebanon's L'Orient-Le Jour that France would supply the Lebanese army with several dozen armored vehicles as well as medicines. He described the vehicles as essential to maintaining patrols and said French support for the army would continue over the long term despite the difficulties at the time.
