BEIRUT: Derek Plumbly, the new United Nations special coordinator for Lebanon, has arrived in Beirut.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed Plumbly the top U.N. official in the country last month during his visit to Lebanon.

Plumbly, a British diplomat who has served in a variety of posts throughout the Middle East for the past 30 years, succeeds Michael Williams, also from the U.K., who held the job from 2008 until 2011.

The U.N. special coordinator for Lebanon supervises the U.N.'s work in Lebanon and is the Secretary-General’s representative to all parties of the Lebanese government as well as the diplomatic community.

In 2007, in the aftermath of the July 2006 war, the Secretary-General established the Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon. UNSCOL’s work focuses largely on the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1701, which called for a cessation of hostilities between Israel and Lebanon.