BEIRUT — Germany moved to assure Lebanon on Monday that it will support the Lebanese government even after pulling out German troops deployed as part of U.N. peacekeepers along the Lebanon-Israel border when their mission ends later this year.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier made the announcement during a news conference at the presidential palace near Beirut. Germany's navy, he said, is already training Lebanese troops as they boost their presence in the country's south following the 14-month war between Israel and the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group.
The mission of the multinational U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, concludes at the end of 2026, nearly five decades after it was deployed. The force has played a significant role in monitoring the security situation in the region, including during the Israel-Hezbollah war last year.
Over the past months, Beirut has said that Lebanon will need a follow-up force to fill the vacuum in southern Lebanon once the U.N. peacekeepers leave.
''After the end of UNIFIL's mission, Germany will stay by the side of your country to boost state authority,'' Steinmeier said, without elaborating. It remains unlikely German troops — tasked with preventing arms smuggling by sea and helping the Lebanese army monitor the country's sea border — would remain in Lebanon.
UNIFIL currently numbers about 7,500 peacekeepers, including 179 Germans.
''The Lebanese armed Forces are, of course, the backbone of stability in Lebanon and this means that after UNIFIL's mission we have to think how to strengthen'' the army, Steinmeier said.
Steinmeier added that the process of disarming Hezbollah — which was part of a November 2024 U.S.-brokered ceasefire that halted the fighting — should move ahead and that Israel should fully withdraw from Lebanese territory.
