UNIFIL sets 2027 timeline to complete troop pullout from Lebanon

Shafaq News- Beirut

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) plans to withdraw most of its troops by mid-2027, with the pullout expected to be completed by the end of the year, UNIFIL spokesperson Kandice Ardiel told AFP on Tuesday.

Ardiel said UNIFIL is in the process of sending UNIFIL personnel and equipment home and transferring UN positions to the Lebanese authorities after operations cease on December 31 this year. During the withdrawal, the force will only be authorized to perform limited tasks such as protecting UN personnel and bases and overseeing a safe departure.

The UN forces reduced their presence in the Southern Lebanon region by nearly 2,000 peacekeepers in recent months, with several hundred more scheduled to withdraw by May, bringing the force’s strength to about 7,500 personnel from 48 countries, she noted, attributing the drawdown directly to a UN-wide financial crisis and cost-cutting measures imposed across peacekeeping missions.

UNIFIL was first deployed in 1978 after Israel’s advance into southern Lebanon, and its mandate expanded in 2006 following the July Israel–Hezbollah war. The mission brings together troops from more than 40 countries, conducts patrols, and monitors the Blue Line, a 120-kilometer boundary set by the UN in 2000 following Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon.

Israel repeatedly accused UNIFIL of leaking sensitive military information to Hezbollah, with Israeli Army Radio claiming the mission’s patrols near the Blue Line allow peacekeepers to observe and record Israeli troop movements, while UNIFIL rejected the allegations. Tensions between Israel and the mission escalated in late 2025, when the forces reported a series of Israeli actions near its patrols, including a drone-dropped grenade and tank fire close to peacekeepers in the southern village of Kfar Kila.