German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul has proposed replacing the expiring UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon with an EU-mandated force, he has told the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland, Al Jazeera reports.

“We should examine in the EU whether we can ensure that no security vacuum arises with a European mandate following the UNIFIL ⁠mission,” Wadephul says in an interview published today.

The UNIFIL mission expires on December 31, 2026.

An EU-mandated force could “create the ⁠conditions for the Israeli army to withdraw without Hezbollah returning with its terror,” the minister has added.