French President Emmanuel Macron is pressing forward with a proposal for a new European presence in Lebanon as France faces growing political and economic strain. The plan has yet to win support from a key European partner, while the United States is considering whether a civilian monitoring effort could take the place of troops.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he had spoken with Macron about the future of the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, or UNIFIL. Rubio said a new mechanism to monitor events could be civilian rather than military.
The administration wants a reliable way to verify any agreement involving an Israeli withdrawal from designated areas, the Lebanese Armed Forces taking control, and Hezbollah being kept from returning, Rubio said. France could contribute, he added, but any arrangement would need the approval of both Lebanon and Israel.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz said Washington does not intend to preserve UNIFIL in its current form. The United States is working with international partners on winding down the mission, he said, with the aim of enabling Lebanon’s people to determine their future and its army to protect the country.
France’s proposal would create a multinational force, potentially including thousands of European troops, to assist the Lebanese army as UNIFIL prepares to end its nearly 50-year presence. The force’s size, role and membership have not been settled.
Italy, which previously joined France in calling for an international coalition after UNIFIL leaves, is not prepared to send troops under the plan Paris is currently promoting, three people familiar with the discussions said.
The proposal is also emerging as Macron faces mounting pressure at home. Demonstrations across France have focused on the cost of living, wages and declining public services. The unrest has added to the difficulty of passing the 2027 budget, with heavy debt and political divisions narrowing the government’s options, Reuters reported Nov. 5.
That domestic pressure raises questions about how much money and military capacity France can devote to another overseas operation, especially if other European countries do not commit to taking part.
Simone Rodan-Benzaquen, a senior European envoy at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said replacing UNIFIL with another international military force could repeat the weaknesses of the current mission. Hezbollah expanded its military presence in southern Lebanon despite peacekeepers being there, she argued, and a new mandate might not prevent that from happening again. She said France could instead help Israel and Lebanon implement their U.S.-brokered agreement reached in June.
Who would be responsible for inspections has already become a point of dispute. Reuters reported in August, citing Lebanese officials and foreign diplomats, that the United States and Israel had opposed France acting as an independent verifier of Hezbollah’s disarmament. A Lebanese official also told the news agency that Beirut had turned down an earlier proposal involving private security firms.
There are wider obstacles as well. A Congressional Research Service assessment updated Nov. 9 said Hezbollah continues to reject disarmament while Israeli forces remain in positions in southern Lebanon.
The U.S.-brokered framework agreed to in June tied a gradual Israeli withdrawal to the verified disarmament of armed groups and the deployment of Lebanese forces. Progress has stalled outside the initial pilot areas, and talks held in October ended without a deal.
Rodan-Benzaquen said France’s influence in Beirut may be more useful than sending additional troops. Lebanon’s cabinet has banned Hezbollah’s military activity, she noted, and Paris could press the government to carry out disarmament. Israel, she said, needs credible assurance Hezbollah will not return to areas its forces leave, while Beirut needs confidence that Israeli troops will eventually withdraw once Lebanese forces secure those areas.
The Security Council extended UNIFIL’s mandate in August 2025 for a final period, through Dec. 31, 2026, and authorized an orderly withdrawal over the next year. The United States supported ending the mission, citing concerns that it had not stopped Hezbollah from maintaining a military presence in southern Lebanon. France has cautioned that a departure could leave a security gap.
France’s U.N. mission has said the country will support UNIFIL until its mandate expires and take part in shaping future international involvement in Lebanon, in support of the country’s sovereignty and the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1701.
U.N. spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said Secretary-General António Guterres put forward three possible options for a future U.N. presence in June, but the Security Council has not chosen one. The U.N. is also aware of discussions about a possible non-U.N. military presence in southern Lebanon, though it is not involved in those talks.
As UNIFIL’s end date approaches, France still needs to secure agreement on which countries might contribute personnel and what the force would be permitted to do. Those questions remain difficult in a country where Hezbollah is still armed and Israeli forces have not fully withdrawn.
