Erdogan says Turkey seeks to join a post-UNIFIL security force in Lebanon

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey is interested in participating in a new security initiative for Lebanon when the 7,500-member UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon expires at the end of the year, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a press statement with his Lebanese counterpart on Thursday.

The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously last year to terminate the peacekeeping mission known as UNIFIL, bowing to demands from Israel and the US. Israel says the 48-year-old mission did not fulfill its mandate and failed to prevent the military buildup of Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah.

Speaking alongside Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in Ankara, Erdogan said that “after the withdrawal of the current international force, Turkey wants to take part in all initiatives that will be launched to support security in the region and ensure Lebanon’s sovereignty.”

“The end of the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, UNIFIL, deployed in southern Lebanon, will constitute an important development,” Erdogan said.

Other countries have also voiced an interest in contributing to a UNIFIL successor force, including France and Italy, but it remains unclear what form that force might take and whether it would be under a UN mandate or some other arrangement.

Turkey’s inclusion in such a force would almost certainly be opposed by Israel, given Ankara’s bitter criticism of the Jewish state in recent years. Israel managed to block Turkey’s participation in the Board of Peace’s International Stabilization Force for Gaza, but that may be a more difficult task in Lebanon, where it doesn’t control the entirety of the territory.

Aoun said at the Thursday press conference that he wants to see his country’s relations with Turkey become “more present and more ambitious” at a “crucial moment in which we are restoring our region and reshaping its future.”

“I am sure that this visit will mark the beginning of a new phase in Lebanese-Turkish relations, with the themes of partnership, trust and joint action,” he said.

Aoun’s visit to Ankara comes as Lebanon remains in a precarious situation despite a shaky truce that has largely halted the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

The terror group had dragged Lebanon into the wider regional conflict with Iran on March 2 by launching rockets at Israel for the first time since a November 2024 ceasefire that had ended over a year of conflict. The US-brokered truce talks have seen Israelis forces withdraw from certain areas of southern Lebanon and be replaced by Lebanese state forces.

At the press conference on Tuesday, Erdogan pledged support to Lebanon’s post-war economic recovery and to support the cash-strapped Lebanese army.

“Of course, our support for the Lebanese Armed Forces will continue in the security context,” Erdogan said.

The Turkish leader, whose country has strong influence over Damascus, urged increased dialogue between Lebanon and Syria, saying it would be “beneficial for both countries.”

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly proposed that Syrian forces should enter Lebanon to fight against Hezbollah. The proposed Syrian intervention has caused alarm in Lebanon, though Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa has said on several occasions that he has no desire to intervene militarily in the neighboring country.

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