US envoy Tom Barrack has said that his country would approve the extension of United Nations peacekeepers' mandate in Lebanon for one more year.
With the UN Security Council discussing the future of the peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon (UNIFIL), Mr Barrack told journalists from Lebanon's presidential palace: "The United States' position is we will extend for one year."
A former chief of the Defence Forces has said he has no doubt there will be war in southern Lebanon if the mandate to keep UNIFIL in the region is not renewed.
Mark Mellett said a non-renewal of the mandate leaves the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon in "difficult territory".
The United Nations Security Council is debating a French-drafted compromise that would keep UNIFIL, deployed in 1978 to separate Israel and Lebanon, in place for one more year while it prepares to withdraw.
Talks began last week and it had been thought a vote could come yesterday, but diplomatic sources indicated that a vote would now come by the end of the week. The force's mandate ends on Sunday.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mr Mellett said: "The legitimacy that the mandate gives is the actual protection for the troops that are there. It's the ability to wear the blue helmet that gives us an ability to operate in places like UNIFIL, where nearly 47,000 Irish men and women have operated since 1978."
Currently more than 300 Defence Forces personnel are wearing blue helmets in southern Lebanon - Ireland's largest overseas deployment.
Mr Mellett said the ending of the mission was a "political question".
"I think it's really up to us all and I'm glad to see that our Government is lobbying through the multilateral frameworks with France to ensure that this mandate is extended, at the very least for a year," he said.
Tánaiste Simon Harris has said that Ireland's view is that UNIFIL has played a vital role in maintaining peace and security in the region, and a wind-down of operations would be deeply problematic for contributing countries and, more importantly, Lebanon itself.
Mr Mellett said: "To actually not renew the mandate, which expires effectively next Sunday, is to leave a really, really challenging circumstance. Israel has been quite clear in terms of its intentions.
"I have no doubt that we will see war in South Lebanon if this mandate is not renewed."
He added that Ireland needed to strengthen its bilateral ties if Irish soldiers were to be sent elsewhere, and that he saw legitimacy in the ongoing Triple Lock debate.
"We need to actually strengthen our bilateral ties with UK, with other EU countries and indeed across the Atlantic," he said.
"The world has changed in the last number of years and we're dealing with much more malign actors. We have hybrid warfare continuing day in, day out, interfering with critical infrastructure.
"There may be circumstances where the Government decides to actually move ahead with the discussion on the Triple Lock and I do see the legitimacy in doing that, that we should not be a hostage to individual states," he added.
