{"id":6415,"date":"2026-05-02T09:36:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T09:36:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/05\/02\/china-urges-reversal-of-unifil-departure-from-lebanon-as-conflict-escalates\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T09:36:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T09:36:19","slug":"china-urges-reversal-of-unifil-departure-from-lebanon-as-conflict-escalates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/05\/02\/china-urges-reversal-of-unifil-departure-from-lebanon-as-conflict-escalates\/","title":{"rendered":"China urges reversal of UNIFIL departure from Lebanon as conflict escalates"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>The UNIFIL has faced a growing number of casualties as Israel continues air raids despite a ceasefire and Hezbollah has responded with rockets and drones.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>China\u2019s ambassador to the United Nations, Fu Cong, has said there is a need to re-examine the UN Security Council\u2019s decision to terminate the mandate of the longstanding peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, which is due to end later this year.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to reporters on Friday at the UN headquarters in New York, Ambassador Fu expressed China\u2019s deep concern about the situation in Lebanon as Beijing assumed the council\u2019s rotating presidency for May.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 3 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/5\/2\/peru-probes-trafficking-of-citizens-to-fight-for-russia-in-ukraine\">Peru probes trafficking of citizens to fight for Russia in Ukraine<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/economy\/2026\/5\/2\/havana-slams-new-trump-sanctions-as-collective-punishment-of-cuban-people\">Havana slams new Trump sanctions as \u2018collective punishment\u2019 of Cuban people<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/video\/newsfeed\/2026\/5\/2\/iran-war-protester-speaks-to-al-jazeera-from-top-of-washington-bridge\">Iran war protester speaks to Al Jazeera from top of Washington bridge<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>He observed that a genuine ceasefire did not exist in Lebanon, describing the current state of conflict as merely a \u201clesser fire\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe do believe that we should revisit the decision, actually, to withdraw the UNIFIL,\u201d Fu said, using the acronym for the UN Interim Force in Lebanon.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think at least the view of the overwhelming majority of the Security Council is that this is not the time to really, to withdraw the UNIFIL out of that part of the country,\u201d Fu said.<\/p>\n<p>China is waiting for a report from the UN secretariat, expected in June, \u201cbefore we take our position\u201d, he added.<\/p>\n<p>Fu also said, \u201cIt is incumbent on Israel to stop this bombardment of Lebanon.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4538128\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4538128\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/ap_69f5518fb367d-1777684879.jpg?w=770&#038;resize=770%2C513&#038;quality=80\" alt=\"China UN Ambassador Fu Cong addresses a United Nations Security Council meeting, Monday, June 30, 2025. (AP Photo\/Richard Drew)\" fetchpriority=\"low\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4538128\">China\u2019s UN Ambassador Fu Cong addresses a UNSC meeting in 2025 [File: Richard Drew\/AP]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Created to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops after the 1978 invasion, UNIFIL saw its mandate expanded after the 2006 war between Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah and was responsible for a demilitarised buffer between the opposing sides.<\/p>\n<p>However, the UNSC <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/8\/28\/un-security-council-renews-unifil-mission-in-lebanon-until-end-of-2026\">unanimously<\/a> resolved last year to begin withdrawing the UNIFIL mission\u2019s 10,800 international peacekeepers by December 2026.<\/p>\n<p>According to Lebanese authorities, Israeli attacks on Lebanon since March 2 have killed 2,618 people and forced more than one million to flee their homes.<\/p>\n<p>The UNIFIL mission has also faced a growing number of casualties. According to UN officials, at least six peacekeepers have been killed and many others injured since Israel began its attack on March 2.<\/p>\n<p>The deaths include soldiers from various contributing nations, including Indonesia and France, who have been caught in shelling incidents and roadside attacks.<\/p>\n<p>UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has condemned these incidents, noting that the UN\u2019s \u201cblue helmets\u201d have come under fire while performing essential duties, such as clearing explosive ordnance and escorting logistics convoys.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4538344\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4538344\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/2026-04-20T085814Z_1674466533_RC2FSKAY9RQE_RTRMADP_3_IRAN-CRISIS-LEBANON-ISRAEL-UNIFIL-1777696013.jpg?w=770&#038;resize=770%2C513&#038;quality=80\" alt=\"UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander Major General Diodato Abagnara pays tribute to Sergeant-Chef Florian Montorio, who was killed while clearing a road in southern Lebanon in an attack that UNIFIL peacekeepers and French officials said was likely carried out by Hezbollah, at Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon, April 19, 2026. Haidar Fahs\/UNIFIL\/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY\" fetchpriority=\"low\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4538344\">UNIFIL head Major-General Diodato Abagnara pays tribute to French soldier Florian Montorio, who was killed while clearing a road in south Lebanon [File: Handout\/UNIFIL via Reuters]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The UNIFIL has faced a growing number of casualties as Israel continues air raids despite a ceasefire and Hezbollah has responded with rockets and drones. China\u2019s ambassador to the United Nations, Fu Cong, has said there is a need to re-examine the UN Security Council\u2019s decision to terminate the mandate of the longstanding peacekeeping mission &#8230; <a title=\"China urges reversal of UNIFIL departure from Lebanon as conflict escalates\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/05\/02\/china-urges-reversal-of-unifil-departure-from-lebanon-as-conflict-escalates\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about China urges reversal of UNIFIL departure from Lebanon as conflict escalates\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6416,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}