Britain’s permanent representative to the U.N., Sir John Sawers, said a draft resolution on the renewal of UNIFIL’s mandate will include an invitation to review the peacekeepers’ mission in south Lebanon.
Following a consultative Security Council session on Thursday, Sawers said that some countries expressed fears on recent incidents in south Lebanon, including the alleged Hizbullah weapons depot blast in Khirbet Selm which is “a clear violation of resolution 1701.”

The ambassador also said Israel was violating Lebanese airspace and continued to occupy the northern part of the border village of Ghajar.

Sawers told An Nahar daily that the draft resolution prepared by the French ambassador will include an invitation for a full review of UNIFIL’s mission and its future role amid a general trend to change the missions of all peacekeeping operations in the world.

Israel had officially asked the Security Council to amend UNIFIL’s Rules of Engagement following the Khirbet Selm explosion. But the French ambassador to the U.N., Jean-Maurice Ripert, said Thursday the Council is expected to extend the mandate of the peacekeeping force for another year without amendments on August 27.

Ripert added, however, that some Council members have remarks on last month’s incidents. While Ripert did not name names, an official with the U.S. mission in New York told An Nahar that his country was concerned about the weapons cache blast.