China urges reversal of UNIFIL departure from Lebanon as conflict escalates

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’s ambassador to the United Nations, Fu Cong, has said there is a need to re-examine the UN Security Council’s decision to terminate the mandate of the longstanding peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, which is due to end later this year.Speaking to reporters on Friday at the UN headquarters in New York, Ambassador Fu expressed China’s deep concern about the situation in Lebanon as Beijing assumed the council’s rotating presidency for May.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Peru probes trafficking of citizens to fight for Russia in Ukrainelist 2 of 3Havana slams new Trump sanctions as ‘collective punishment’ of Cuban peoplelist 3 of 3Iran war protester speaks to Al Jazeera from top of Washington bridgeend of listHe observed that a genuine ceasefire did not exist in Lebanon, describing the current state of conflict as merely a “lesser fire”.“We do believe that we should revisit the decision, actually, to withdraw the UNIFIL,” Fu said, using the acronym for the UN Interim Force in Lebanon.“I think at least the view of the overwhelming majority of the Security