French President Emmanuel Macron will host Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam in Paris to discuss upholding a fragile truce and a deadly attack on UN peacekeepers.
PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron will meet with Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam in Paris on Tuesday, the Elysee Palace announced on Sunday.
The meeting underscores Macron’s commitment to ensuring the “full and complete respect for the ceasefire in Lebanon” and France’s support for the country’s “territorial integrity”.
This diplomatic engagement follows a 10-day truce agreed between Israel and Lebanon on Thursday, intended to create space for negotiations to end six weeks of fighting with the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.
The visit was announced a day after France blamed Hezbollah for an ambush on United Nations peacekeepers that killed one French soldier and wounded three others.
Macron is expected to urge Lebanese authorities to “shed full light on the incident” and “identify and prosecute those responsible without delay”.
An initial assessment by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) concluded the attack was carried out by Hezbollah, according to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
The Elysee stressed that “UNIFIL soldiers, who are carrying out their missions in difficult conditions and supporting the delivery of humanitarian aid to southern Lebanon, must under no circumstances be targeted”.
Hezbollah, which strongly opposes the planned Lebanon-Israel talks, has denied any involvement in the attack that killed the French peacekeeper.
The recent fighting in Lebanon has seen UNIFIL positions repeatedly targeted by both Israeli and Hezbollah forces.
