UN peacekeeping chief says major questions hang over southern Lebanon as UNIFIL exit nears

BEIRUT -- The United Nations peacekeeping chief said Wednesday that major unresolved questions remain about plans for southern Lebanon as the end of a long-running U.N. peacekeeping force looms.The mandate of the U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon known as UNIFIL expires at the end of the year, bringing to an end a nearly 50-year long presence.Undersecretary-General Jean-Pierre Lacroix told The Associated Press during a visit to Beirut that “the Lebanese authorities were unanimous in telling us they want to keep a U.N. presence" to monitor and report violations and defuse tensions between Israeli and Lebanese troops on the ground.Lebanese officials have pushed for a last-minute extension of UNIFIL’s mandate, so far without success.Several options are under consideration for a potential successor force, but “no decision has been made so far about what kind of U.N. presence, if anything, after UNIFIL,” Lacroix said, adding that he expects “negotiations will begin in earnest at the Security Council” soon and that a decision should be made before the force’s mandate expires.“The voice of the Lebanese authorities should be heard very clearly during that process of negotiation,”...