French President Emmanuel Macron landed in Beirut on Friday where he met with the president, prime minister and speaker of Lebanon’s parliament as it struggles to recover from a devastating 14-month war between Israel and Hezbollah.
Macron has arrived in the Lebanese capital Beirut to show Paris’ support for the country’s new leadership, which is tasked with ending years of economic chaos exacerbated by the recent war.
French president will meet his counterpart Joseph Aoun, who was elected president on 9 January after more than two years in which the top job has been vacant.
The purpose of the visit is to “help” Aoun and Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam “strengthen Lebanon’s sovereignty, ensure its prosperity and preserve its unity,” the French presidential administration said ahead of Macron’s arrival.
France has special ties to Lebanon as it governed the country for two decades after World War I.
Macron is also scheduled to meet UN Secretary-General António Guterres in Beirut ahead of the January 26 deadline for the full implementation of a ceasefire agreement between the Iran-backed Lebanese group and Israel.
The agreement, brokered by France and the US in November, aims to end a months-long conflict that has seen Israeli troops enter southern Lebanon. Under the agreement, the Lebanese army has 60 days to deploy with UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon as the Israeli army withdraws, which it must do by the end of January.
