Lebanon pushes to retain UN presence in the south

Lebanon is stepping up a political and diplomatic drive to maintain a UN presence in the south while rallying support for its army, as Beirut and Paris push to revisit the deadline to end UNIFIL’s mission. Beirut is treating that issue separately from proposals for a European initiative to support the military. Beirut insists on UN presence An informed source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the proposed European force “is being discussed on a separate track from the southern Lebanon file and is not di