Germany’s president used a news conference near Beirut on Monday to assure Lebanon that Germany will not end its involvement when UN peacekeepers depart later this year—framing the decision as support for Lebanon’s government and state authority rather than a shift in troop levels on the ground. Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Germany will “stay by the side of your country” after the mission of the multinational U.N. force in southern Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, concludes at the end of 2026.
Steinmeier made the remarks during a visit in which he discussed how Lebanon plans to prepare for life after UNIFIL. Lebanon has said in recent months that it will need a follow-up force to fill the vacuum in southern Lebanon once the U.N. peacekeepers leave, and Steinmeier pointed to Germany’s own role as that planning continues.
He said Germany’s navy is already training Lebanese troops as they expand their presence in the country’s south following the 14-month war between Israel and Hezbollah. Steinmeier also described Lebanon’s armed forces as the “backbone of stability in Lebanon,” saying Germany wants to strengthen the army after UNIFIL’s mission ends.
The UNIFIL mission is currently about 7,500 personnel, including 179 Germans, according to Steinmeier’s remarks. He did not provide details on how long German involvement would continue beyond training, and he said the post-UNIFIL approach would focus on bolstering Lebanon’s state institutions.
Steinmeier also linked the next steps to the ceasefire that ended the most recent fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. He said the process of disarming Hezbollah—described in the AP report as part of a November 2024 U.S.-brokered ceasefire—should move ahead, and he said Israel should fully withdraw from Lebanese territory.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, who spoke alongside Steinmeier, said Lebanon had “paid a high price” for the Israel-Hezbollah war. Aoun said Hezbollah started that war by firing rockets into Israel a day after Hamas attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, triggering the war in Gaza, and he said Israel later expanded its attacks in September 2024, including bombardment and a ground operation that severely weakened Hezbollah.
In his remarks, Aoun described the scale of the human and material toll from the conflict, saying it killed more than 4,000 people in Lebanon, including hundreds of civilians, and caused an estimated $11 billion in damage and destruction, citing the World Bank. He said that in Israel, 127 people died, including 80 soldiers, and he said Lebanon was left to absorb burdens “we were forced to live through.”
Aoun did not mention Hezbollah’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon when he spoke. He said he had asked Steinmeier to have Germany assume a “main role” after UNIFIL, without elaborating what that would entail, and he said he also asked Israel to abide by the ceasefire and withdraw from Lebanon.
Sources cited by the AP report also noted that it remains unlikely German troops would stay in Lebanon after UNIFIL’s mission ends, despite Germany’s current contribution to the peacekeeping operation. Steinmeier’s assurance thus appears aimed at maintaining outside support through training and follow-on political engagement rather than extending the deployment of German forces as peacekeepers.