French President Emmanuel Macron speaks with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun (centre) and Lebanese interim Prime Minister Najib Mikati while signing a guestbook at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, on Friday, January 17. (right). 2025. Photo credit: AP
French President Emmanuel Macron meets with Lebanon’s newly elected President Joseph Aoun on Friday (January 17, 2025) as the country seeks to recover from a historic economic crisis and 14 months of Israel-Hezbollah war. He vowed to support small countries.
Macron’s first visit to Lebanon in more than four years follows a 60-day ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah that came into effect on November 27, aimed at ending the war. France helped broker the deal, and French officers are members of the committee overseeing the ceasefire.
Immediately after the ceasefire agreement, Lebanon’s parliament broke the deadlock that had left the presidential position vacant for more than two years. This paved the way for the appointment of prominent jurist and diplomat Nawaf Salam as permanent prime minister, who is in the process of forming a new government.
The Lebanese government says the political breakthrough will boost its international credibility and pave the way for the release funds needed to rebuild after the Israeli-Hezbollah war that killed more than 4,000 people and injured more than 16,000 in Lebanon. I’m looking forward to it. The International Conference on Lebanon, held in Paris in October, raised $1 billion in pledges for humanitarian and military aid.
Macron, who has been critical of Lebanon’s leadership, said in a joint press conference with Aoun that France would support Lebanon and that the country’s new government would usher in “a new era of change in political behavior.” He said he was looking forward to it. It is a restoration of the nation that benefits everyone. ”
Mr. Aoun called on Mr. Macron to bear witness to the restoration of Lebanese people’s faith in their country and nation. “World trust in Lebanon must also be restored,” he said.
“The real Lebanon is back,” Aoun said.
Macron was first received by Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati at Beirut’s international airport. He said France would add about 80 experts to the 750 French troops deployed to southern Lebanon as part of the UN peacekeeping force along the Israeli border.
“This is a message of gratitude,” Macron told reporters at the airport.
He then visited parts of Beirut, talking to people on the streets and taking selfies, before heading to the presidential palace to meet with Aoun, Mikati and National Assembly Speaker Navi Berri.
President Macron said two-thirds of international commitments to support Lebanon had been fulfilled at October’s Paris conference, with France providing 83 million euros of the 100 million euros pledged.
The French leader harshly criticized Lebanon’s political class, which many blame for decades of corruption and mismanagement that led to the country’s worst economic and financial crisis in October 2019.
President Macron has spent years pressuring Lebanese authorities to implement reforms to save the former French protectorate from an economic crisis that the World Bank describes as one of the worst the world has seen in more than 100 years. I’ve been calling. Since then, the country’s rulers have taken little action.
Mr. Aoun and the next prime minister have vowed to try to pull Lebanon out of economic crisis and impose state authority over parts of the country that Hezbollah has long controlled.
The war between Israel and Hezbollah has weakened the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah, which has long dominated Lebanese politics. Hezbollah supported other presidential and prime ministerial candidates, but ultimately voted for Aoun and abstained from nominating Salam to the post of prime minister.
“President Macron has promised to maintain his support for the new government,” Mikati said after meeting with the French president at the airport. He added that Macron will meet early Friday morning with U.S. and French officials from the ceasefire monitoring committee, and later with Lebanese officials.
Asked if France could guarantee that Israel would withdraw its troops from Lebanon by the end of the 60-day cease-fire, Mikati said this had not been discussed, but that France had discussed the matter with U.S. officials. He said he is following up on the matter.
President Macron said some progress had been made in implementing the ceasefire agreement, but more progress was needed. “We need a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops and a complete monopoly on weapons by the Lebanese army,” he said.
“The ceasefire has ended an intolerable spiral of violence. It is a valuable diplomatic success that has saved lives, and we must strengthen it,” President Macron said.
Macron last visited Lebanon in August 2020, just days after a massive port explosion in Beirut killed more than 200 people and injured thousands.
issued – January 18, 2025 7:35am IST
