The UN Security Council voted unanimously on Thursday to renew the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) for another year, while urging the Lebanese army to boost its naval capabilities.
Fifteen members of the security council adopted the resolution 2433 to renew Unifil’s mandate. Unifil is a 10,500 strong-force tasked since 1978 to keep the peace on the Lebanese-Israeli border but with expanded responsibilities following the 2006 war.
The renewal push was led by French efforts at the Council, who were able to convince its members to stick to the current mandate, and not reduce the number of the peacekeepers. But the six-page resolution calls on Lebanon to boost its naval capabilities in order to ultimately draw down the Unifil mission. It requests an assessment by the UN Secretary General in six months on the issue.
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Read more:
Lebanon: As it approaches its 40th anniversary, Unifil faces challenges old and new
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The new mandate does not mention Hezbollah by name but calls on all member states to take “the necessary measures to prevent, by their nationals or from their territories or using flag vessels or aircraft, the sale or supply of arms and related materiel to any entity or individual in Lebanon other than those authorised by the government of Lebanon or Unifil.”
Lebanon’s permanent representative to the United Nations Amal Mudallali welcomed the vote. It allows Unifil “to continue its work in safeguarding the security and stability in South Lebanon”, Ms Mudallali tweeted:
The United States had offered harsh criticism on Unifil’s performance last year, but voted for the renewal. Addressing the council, US political coordinator at the UN Rodney Hunter said Washington “is pleased to join consensus in support of the mandate renewal today.”
Mr Hunter slammed Hezbollah’s and Iran’s roles in threatening the peace and violating an arms embargo under UN resolution 1701 from 2006. “With the support of Iran, Hezbollah has grown its arsenal in Lebanon in direct threat to peace along the Blue Line and the stability of all of Lebanon” he said while welcoming to expand and strengthen the Lebanese naval capabilities.
Last year, US Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said “it’s time the Security Council puts teeth in the Unifil operation … we don’t need to be giving terrorists a pass.” This resolution strengthens Unifil’s operations but it is unclear if it gives it enough teeth to carry its mandate.
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
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Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
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THE CLOWN OF GAZA
Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah
Starring: Alaa Meqdad
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The specs: 2018 Maserati GranTurismo/GranCabrio
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Engine 4.7L V8
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FA CUP FINAL
Chelsea 1
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ADCC AFC Women’s Champions League Group A fixtures
October 3: v Wuhan Jiangda Women’s FC
October 6: v Hyundai Steel Red Angels Women’s FC
October 9: v Sabah FA
MATCH INFO
Juventus 1 (Dybala 45')
Lazio 3 (Alberto 16', Lulic 73', Cataldi 90 4')
Red card: Rodrigo Bentancur (Juventus)
match details
Wales v Hungary
Cardiff City Stadium, kick-off 11.45pm
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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