French President Emmanuel Macron is advancing a proposal for a new European security presence in Lebanon as France confronts deepening political and economic pressures at home. The plan is already facing opposition from a major European partner, while the United States is exploring an alternative monitoring arrangement that may not involve foreign troops.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he had spoken with Macron about the future of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, or UNIFIL, and indicated that any successor mechanism could be civilian rather than military.
“It doesn’t have to be a military mission. It could be a civilian mission,” Rubio said in comments released Tuesday.
Rubio said Washington wants a reliable system for confirming that Israeli forces leave specified areas, the Lebanese Armed Forces take over security responsibilities and the Iran-backed terrorist organization Hezbollah does not reestablish its presence.
Soldiers with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon attend a ceremony marking the International Day of U.N. Peacekeepers in Naqoura, Lebanon, on May 29, 2025. (Ali Hashisho/Xinhua via Getty Images)
He said France could make a useful contribution, but stressed that any new arrangement would depend on approval from both Beirut and Jerusalem.
Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, separately said Washington does not expect the current peacekeeping operation to remain in place.
“UNIFIL in its current form will not continue, and it must not continue — we are working with our international partners to draw down the mission and ensure that the Lebanese people can choose their own future and to ensure that the Lebanese Armed Forces can secure the nation’s future,” Waltz told News Outlet.
French President Emmanuel Macron reviews troops during a visit to the nuclear submarine navy base at Ile Longue in Crozon, France, on March 2, 2026. (Yoan Valat /Pool via Reuters)
Paris is considering a multinational force that could include thousands of European personnel tasked with assisting the Lebanese army as UNIFIL moves toward the end of its nearly 50-year deployment. The force’s size, mission and list of participating nations have not been finalized.
Italy, however, appears unwilling to place its troops under the proposal now being promoted by France. Three people familiar with the discussions told News Outlet that Rome had previously joined Paris in supporting an international coalition after UNIFIL’s departure but does not back the current plan.
Macron is pursuing the initiative while facing intensifying domestic criticism. Protests have spread across France over the cost of living, stagnant wages and the decline of public services.
That unrest has made it harder for the government to secure passage of its 2027 budget. Rising debt and sharp political divisions have further narrowed the administration’s options, Reuters reported Nov. 5.
The proposed Lebanon mission therefore raises questions about how much money and military capacity Paris can dedicate to another overseas operation, especially if other European governments decline to participate.
Simone Rodan-Benzaquen, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ senior envoy for Europe, said replacing UNIFIL with another international military deployment could reproduce the failures of the existing mission.
“UNIFIL’s mandate should end as scheduled. Hezbollah built up its military presence in southern Lebanon with international peacekeepers already on the ground. Keeping troops there under a new mandate would repeat an approach that failed to prevent that buildup. The basis for what comes next should be the U.S.-brokered agreement Israel and Lebanon reached in June. France can help both sides put it into practice and move further,” Rodan-Benzaquen told News Outlet.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio sits with France’s Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noël Barrot during the G7 foreign ministers summit at the Quai d’Orsay in Paris, where they discussed support for Ukraine and efforts to stabilize the Middle East, on Nov. 9, 2026. (Christophe Petit Tesson / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)
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Determining who would oversee inspections has already become a major point of contention.
The United States and Israel previously objected to France serving as an independent verifier of Hezbollah’s disarmament, according to an Aug. 7 Reuters report that cited Lebanese officials and foreign diplomats. A Lebanese official also said Beirut rejected an earlier suggestion that private security firms perform the task.
The obstacles are not limited to disagreements among governments.
A Congressional Research Service report updated Nov. 9 said Hezbollah continues to reject disarmament, while Israeli troops still hold positions in southern Lebanon.
A protester holds a rock near a burning kiosk during a demonstration close to Place de la République in Paris on Oct. 17, 2026, as the Gilets Jaunes joined students for a weekend of protests. (Carl Court/Getty Images)
The framework negotiated with U.S. assistance in June tied a phased Israeli withdrawal to verified disarmament by armed groups and the deployment of Lebanese forces. Progress, however, has stalled outside the initial pilot zones, and talks held in October concluded without a deal.
Rodan-Benzaquen said France should use its diplomatic influence instead of sending more troops, concentrating on helping Lebanon’s government dismantle Hezbollah’s military infrastructure.
“France’s greatest leverage is notably in Beirut. The Lebanese cabinet has already outlawed Hezbollah’s military activity. Paris should work with the Lebanese government to press disarming Hezbollah. Israel needs credible evidence that Hezbollah cannot return to an area its troops are eventually leaving. Beirut needs confidence that once its army secures that area, the agreed Israeli withdrawal will eventually follow. That is where French diplomacy can make a difference.”
The dispute follows an August 2025 Security Council resolution that extended UNIFIL’s mandate for the final time, through Dec. 31, 2026, while authorizing an organized withdrawal during the year that follows.
The United States supported ending the mission, citing longstanding concerns that it had failed to stop Hezbollah from sustaining a military foothold in southern Lebanon. France has taken the opposite view, warning that a sudden departure could create a dangerous security vacuum.
Vehicles belonging to the United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon travel along the main road toward the southern town of Naqura near the Israeli border on Oct. 27, 2022. (Photo by Mahmoud Zayyat/ AFP/Getty Images)
In an earlier statement to the Security Council, France’s U.N. mission said: “France will support UNIFIL until the expiration of its mandate. It will contribute to defining the future international engagement in Lebanon, in support of its sovereignty and the implementation of resolution 1701.”
U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said Secretary-General António Guterres put forward three possible models for a future U.N. presence in June, but the Security Council has yet to choose among them.
Dujarric said the United Nations knows about discussions concerning a potential non-U.N. military presence in southern Lebanon, but is not directly participating in those talks.
As the UNIFIL deadline draws closer, France must win agreement on more than the countries willing to provide personnel. It also must help define what a replacement force would be permitted to do in a country where Hezbollah remains armed and Israeli troops have not completed their withdrawal.
A Spanish UNIFIL peacekeeper stands amid the ruins of destroyed buildings during a patrol in the southern Lebanese village of Borj El Mlouk, near the Israeli border, on Jan. 7, 2025. (ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Getty Images)
The Italian government did not respond to News Outlet’s request for comment. Requests were also sent to the State Department and Spanish and Lebanese officials.
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