Eduardo González
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, met this Wednesday in New York with the Assistant Secretary General of the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, with whom he discussed the situation in the Middle East and the UN mission in Lebanon (UNIFIL), including the work of the Spanish contingent.
The objective of the meeting, as explained by the minister through his official account on the social network X, was “to discuss the situation on the ground in Lebanon, the UNIFIL peacekeeping mission and the work of our troops there.” “I have reiterated Spain’s firm commitment to UNIFIL and the sovereignty of Lebanon,” he added.
Albares held a previous meeting with Lacroix, also in New York, at the end of September, on the margins of the High Level Week of the 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.
Since then, the situation has worsened with the escalation of the Israeli military intervention in Lebanon and the successive attacks carried out by the Hebrew Army against the headquarters of the mission in Naqura, the last one this Tuesday. Spain has repeatedly condemned these attacks, which represent “a very serious violation of international law and Security Council resolution 1701.”
On October 15, the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, called an emergency meeting with the countries contributing troops to UNIFIL to discuss the situation on the ground following the Israeli attacks. Two days earlier, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, demanded that Guterres withdraw from UNIFIL, considering that its troops have become “human shields” for the Shiite militias of Hezbollah.
Spain has participated in the mission since 2006 with some 650 soldiers integrated into the Libre Hidalgo operation, most of them stationed in Marjayoun, in the southeast of Lebanon. Since 2022, Spanish Lieutenant General Aroldo Lázaro has been in command of the international contingent, which includes more than 10,500 Blue Helmets from 40 countries.
