The UN Security Council is set to vote Thursday on the future of the blue helmet peacekeeping mission in south Lebanon, which has faced US and Israeli opposition.

Some 10,800 peacekeepers have been acting as a buffer between Israel and Lebanon since 1978. But the usual renewal of their mandate, which expires Sunday, is facing hostility this year from Israel and its American ally, who want them to leave.

The Council is debating a French-drafted compromise that would keep the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in place until the end of next year while it prepares to........

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