A United Nations peacekeeping patrol came under fire in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, 10 November, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said, in an incident that has sharpened concern about security in the south as the mission's mandate nears its end.

UNIFIL said about a dozen rounds were fired at one of its patrols near Wadi Jilu, in Lebanon's Tyre district, without specifying who was behind the shooting. The patrol returned fire after spotting a muzzle flash, after which the shooting stopped. UNIFIL reported no casualties and called for an investigation.

The force said deliberate attacks on peacekeepers were violations of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 and international humanitarian law, and it repeated the obligation under international law for all actors to ensure the safety and security of United Nations personnel and property at all times.

A mission running out of time

UNIFIL is a peacekeeping mission established by the UN Security Council in March 1978, days after Israel invaded Lebanon. It now comprises some 7,500 personnel from nearly 50 countries, and its mandate is due to expire on 31 December 2026 after the Security Council voted last year, under pressure from the United States, to end the mission. Lebanese officials have called for the mandate to be extended.

The shooting came as governments discussed what should replace the force. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Tuesday that the Group of Seven foreign ministers, meeting in Paris, had agreed on the need to avoid a security void in Lebanon after UNIFIL withdraws. The ministers backed the need to move quickly towards a new security architecture, Barrot said, but he acknowledged there had been no breakthrough on what should replace the mission.

United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio has proposed that what replaces UNIFIL does not have to be a military mission, and that it could be a civilian mission, according to the Times of Israel.

An unsettled south

Israel continues to occupy swaths of southern Lebanon, despite a ceasefire and a United States-brokered framework agreement under which the Israeli military would withdraw from those areas and the Lebanese army would move in to disarm Hezbollah. Attacks have continued during the truce, and more than one million people have been displaced by Israel's war on Lebanon.

Tuesday's shooting did not injure anyone, but it underlines the risk facing peacekeepers who still patrol the area. With less than two months left before the mandate expires and no agreed replacement in place, the question of who keeps the peace in southern Lebanon after 31 December remains open — and the G7's warning of a security void suggests governments are running out of time to answer it.

Sources: Newscord and Al Jazeera.