France’s Emmanuel Macron is the first foreign head of state to visit Beirut since Joseph Aoun was elected as Lebanon’s president.
French President Emmanuel Macron has called on Israel to accelerate its troop withdrawal from southern Lebanon as a deadline for the pullout nears under the terms of a ceasefire that ended a war with Hezbollah last year.
During a visit to Beirut on Friday, Macron also said Lebanon’s military must have a total monopoly on weapons, and he voiced France’s support for strengthening the Lebanese army’s deployment in the country’s south.
“We need a total withdrawal of the Israeli army,” Macron said, speaking alongside Lebanon’s new president, Joseph Aoun, who was commander of the Lebanese military until his election this month as head of state.
“We support … the increased power of the Lebanese armed forces and their deployment in the south of the country,” the French president said.
Macron is the first foreign head of state to visit Beirut since Aoun was elected by Lebanon’s parliament to fill the vacant post of head of state on January 9, signalling a shift in the country’s power balance after the war, which left Iran-aligned Hezbollah badly weakened.
The ceasefire, which took effect on November 27 and was brokered by the United States and France, requires Israeli forces to withdraw from southern Lebanon within 60 days, and for Hezbollah to remove all its fighters and weapons from the south.
The Lebanese army must also deploy alongside UN peacekeepers in the south as the Israeli army withdraws by January 26.
With just more than a week to go until the cut-off date, Macron called for accelerated implementation of the truce.
“There have been results, … but they must be accelerated and long-lasting. There needs to be complete withdrawal of Israeli forces, and the Lebanese army must hold total monopoly of any weapons” in southern Lebanon, Macron said.
A committee composed of Israeli, Lebanese, French and US delegates alongside a representative from the UN peacekeeping force has been tasked with monitoring the implementation of the ceasefire.
Macron also announced that Paris would host in the coming weeks an international reconstruction conference for Lebanon.
“As soon as the president [Aoun] comes to Paris in a few weeks time, we will organise around him an international reconstruction conference to drum up funding,” Macron said.
“The international community must prepare for massive support to the reconstruction of infrastructure.”
Reporting from Beirut, Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr said that in the words of the French president, “spring has arrived in Lebanon.”
“He’s talking about a new reality in the country, a new leadership. … Macron’s visit is part of showing support to this new leadership,” she said.
Khodr added that in his statement to the news media, Macron also addressed the reforms Lebanon needs to undertake, whether it is in the judiciary, the financial sector or the public sector, as a new Lebanese government forms.
