United Nations, May 9 (IANS): UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has announced the appointment of Herve Lecoq of France as the new deputy head of mission at the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

Lecoq, who succeeds Jack Christofides of South Africa, will also serve as director of political and civil affairs at the UNIFIL, Xinhua news agency quoted Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for Guterres, as saying at a regular press briefing.

The spokesman said that Lecoq, who will take his new job shortly, brings over 30 years of experience in peace operations, political affairs and development.

Most recently, Lecoq has served as deputy director of the Europe and Central Asia division of UN departments of political and peacebuilding affairs and peace operations from 2019 to 2023.

UNIFIL was first established in 1978 to confirm Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.

After the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel, the mission's mandate was expanded to monitor the cessation of hostilities and to accompany the deployment of Lebanese armed forces throughout southern Lebanon as Israel withdraws its troops.

UNIFIL currently has around 10,500 peacekeepers coming from 48 troop contributing countries, according to information on the mission's website.