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BRUSSELS, Belgium — The European Union signed off Thursday on a new 100-million-euro ($116 million) support package for the Lebanese army, as it seeks to bolster the military amid a fragile ceasefire in the country.
"The latest ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon offers a chance to prevent a return to full-scale hostilities," EU foreign policy chief KajaKallas posted online.
"But the death of a UNIFIL peacekeeper and continued skirmishes underscore the tenuous nature of what was agreed."
Kallas said "the best way to reduce the threat posed by Hizbollah is to strengthen the Lebanese state, empower its institutions, and restore its monopoly on the use of force".
The new assistance for the Lebanese armed forces is the fourth provided by the EU in recent years, taking the overall value to 182 million euros.
Israel carried out new strikes in Lebanon on Thursday and again threatened Beirut, despite the two countries agreeing to a conditional ceasefire that Lebanon's president called the "last chance" for a durable end to the fighting.
A United Nations peacekeeper was killed and two others were wounded, the UNIFIL force said, after a base was hit on Wednesday in the south, where Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hizbollah are fighting.
