Operations to maintain peace. This Saturday, April 18, Sergeant-Chef Florian Montorio from the 17th paratrooper engineering regiment of Montauban was killed in southern Lebanon while deployed as part of an operation within the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). Nearly 8,200 soldiers from 47 different nations, including over 600 French troops, make up the UNIFIL peacekeeping forces.
UNIFIL, established by the UN Security Council, has been present in Lebanon since March 1978 to “confirm the withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon, restore international peace and security, and help the Lebanese government reassert effective authority in the region,” according to the UNIFIL website.
A deterrent power but no intervention
The peacekeepers have a power of persuasion and deterrence but no intervention. The priority is to stabilize Lebanon and relay information to the UN Headquarters in New York. Their powers were extended in 2006 with an agreement stating that only UN peacekeeping forces and the Lebanese army are deployed behind “the blue line,” the border between Israel and Lebanon.
UNIFIL is funded by all UN member states. Its annual budget reaches $550 million. However, its effectiveness is highly contested. For instance, Hezbollah has built tunnels under the blue line to enter Israel. Since 1978, 343 peacekeepers have been killed in Lebanon. Furthermore, since the start of the war in Iran, incidents targeting them have increased. “Attacks” against these UN forces can amount to “war crimes,” warned UN Secretary-General spokesperson António Guterres in 2024.
:fill(black)/2026/04/18/69e3d63063558451281747.jpg "Soldier killed in Lebanon: French military caught in ambush.")
