5 May2020

PRESS ELEMENTS FROM THE SECURITY COUNCIL MEETING ON RESOLUTION 1701 AND LEBANON

UN Special Coordinator Jan Kubis and Under-Secretary-General Jean-Pierre Lacroix briefed the Security Council on the situation in Lebanon during its regular meeting on the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701. The members of the Security Council commended the key and continued efforts of UNIFIL to maintain calm along the Blue Line. Its cooperation with the Lebanese Armed Forces with the aim of extending the control of the Government of Lebanon over all Lebanese territory and expressed the importance of UNIFIL being able to fulfil its mandate.

The members of the Security Council expressed their deep concern following the recent incidents which occurred along the Blue Line and in UNIFIL's area of operations, as well as all the violations of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, including by land and air. They recalled that all parties should make every effort to ensure that the cessation of hostilities is sustained, exercise maximum calm and restraint, and refrain from any action or rhetoric that could jeopardize the cessation of hostilities or destabilize the region. The members of the Security Council welcomed the will of the concerned parties to make the best use of the tripartite mechanism. They condemned any attacks against UNIFIL peacekeepers.

In addition to those exchanges on the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1701 and considering the major and acute crisis Lebanon is now facing, the members of the Security Council took due note of the approval by the Government of Lebanon of an economic plan as well as of its decision to request an IMF program. They took note of the urgent need for the Lebanese authorities to respond to the aspirations of the Lebanese people by implementing meaningful economic reforms, and notably the commitments made in the framework of the CEDRE Conference, as well as the International Support Group for Lebanon meeting held in Paris on the 11^th of December. On the basis of those necessary reforms, the members of the Security Council expressed support to Lebanon to help it exit the current crisis and to address the economic, security and humanitarian challenges, as well as the impact of COVID-19 facing the country, and called the international community, including international organizations, to do so.

The members of the Security Council recognized the additional challenges posed by the global COVID-19 pandemic, also on the Lebanese economy, and commended the preventive measures taken by UNIFIL in that regard.

The members of the Security Council reaffirmed the strong support for the stability, security, territorial integrity, sovereignty and political independence of Lebanon, in accordance with relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions.