UN peace operations chief warns of a security vacuum as peacekeepers leave Lebanon and Western Sahara

4 November 2026

Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, told reporters at UN Headquarters in New York that two long-running missions are winding down at the same time. The UN Interim Force in Lebanon, UNIFIL, still has about 7,500 peacekeepers and is due to stop operations at the end of the year. It has patrolled the border with Israel since 1978. The UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara, MINURSO, closed on 31 October after 35 years and is now being liquidated. Lacroix said about 10,000 people live between the Blue Line, drawn by the UN in 2000, and the forward defence line Israel has set up inside Lebanon. Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam have warned of a security vacuum once the peacekeepers go. The Secretary-General put options before the Security Council in June, but the Council has not agreed on what should follow. Russia vetoed a United States draft on Western Sahara, and a rival Russian text did not get the nine votes it needed.