Beirut, Lebanon: President Joseph Aoun told AFP that Lebanon wants a new force, from Europe or elsewhere, to avoid a security “vacuum” in the south when UN peacekeepers leave at the end of the year.

“What matters is that there is no vacuum,” he told AFP in an interview on Tuesday. He added that any new force for Lebanon’s south, part of which is occupied by Israel, would be “temporary until the (Lebanese) army can deploy”.