Macron stresses need to continue support for Lebanon, protect it from ‘external interference’

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Updated 18 January 2025
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Macron stresses need to continue support for Lebanon, protect it from ‘external interference’

  • Macron said: “Keeping Lebanon shielded from external interference is a prerequisite for the ongoing implementation of the ceasefire agreement, which was a diplomatic success”
  • Macron also announced plans to organize an international conference during Aoun’s visit to France in a few weeks to “mobilize funding for Lebanon’s reconstruction”

BEIRUT: French President Emmanuel Macron has emphasized the importance of “continuing to support Lebanon in asserting its sovereignty over all its territory.”
Macron was speaking from Beirut’s Presidential Palace on Friday, where he met with President Joseph Aoun.
Macron said: “Keeping Lebanon shielded from external interference is a prerequisite for the ongoing implementation of the ceasefire agreement, which was a diplomatic success.”

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He pledged to “continue supporting the army in its deployment in the south and working with Lebanon to demarcate its (land) borders along the Blue Line.”
Macron’s visit comes a week after Aoun was elected, ending a 26-month period without a president for his country and following Israeli assaults that have weakened Hezbollah militarily and reshuffled Lebanon’s political landscape.
During a joint press conference, Macron told Aoun: “You have ended the political vacuum that Lebanon experienced, and you are putting Lebanon on the path to recovery. You are the hope, and Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam embodies this hope. The Lebanese’s election of you confirms their demand for change and the revival of Lebanon.”
Macron also announced plans to organize an international conference during Aoun’s visit to France in a few weeks to “mobilize funding for Lebanon’s reconstruction.”
He said: “We will work on rallying the international community to support Lebanon in all sectors. UNIFIL’s work must be strengthened to enable it to fulfill its mission.”
Aoun stressed the close links between the two presidents’ countries, saying: “In the heart, mind, daily language, living history, and creative culture of every Lebanese, there is much of France.”
The new president also urged his guest to “testify to the entire world that the Lebanese people’s confidence in their country and state has returned, and that the world’s trust in Lebanon must fully return, because the real and authentic Lebanon has made its comeback.”
Macron landed in Beirut on Friday morning accompanied by a delegation which included French presidential envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian.
The French president met Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati at the airport and praised “the mission undertaken by Mikati over the past years to serve everyone in Lebanon, especially during the significantly difficult stage resulting from the last war.”
Macron also laid a wreath on the unknown soldier’s tombstone next to Lebanon’s National Museum and visited Gemmayze, where he was briefed on restoration work in that area, which was severely damaged in the Beirut Port explosion four years ago.
Meanwhile, UN chief Antonio Guterres began his visit to Lebanon on Friday by heading to UNIFIL’s headquarters in Naqoura, where he delivered a speech which contained several warnings to Israel and Hezbollah.
“The continued occupation by the Israeli army inside the UNIFIL area of operations, and the conduct of military operations in Lebanese territory, are violations of resolution 1701 and pose an ongoing threat to your safety and security. They must stop,” he said.
“The UN peacekeepers have uncovered over 100 weapons caches belonging to Hezbollah or other armed groups since Nov. 27, the date on which the agreement went into effect.
“The presence of armed personnel, assets and weapons other than those of the Lebanese army and the UNIFIL peacekeeping forces between the Blue Line and the Litani River significantly violates resolution 1701 and jeopardizes Lebanon’s stability,” he continued.
Guterres met the commander of the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, Gen. Aroldo Lázaro, and was briefed on the challenges faced during the Israeli army’s war against Hezbollah. He also inspected the Blue Line and addressed the international forces there, describing them as “the peacekeeping frontline” and praising their “courage and resilience in the face of attacks through the Blue Line.”
He said: “You showed the importance of the blue helmets in deterring violence, supporting de-escalation, and protecting civilians. Your contribution has been crucial in restoring stability in southern Lebanon and along the Blue Line. Thanks to your efforts, to a great extent, we are in a period of relative calm that requires support.
“This is a critical opportunity to support the full implementation of Resolution 1701 and deliver lasting security for the people of Lebanon and Israel.”
He added: “You have our full support to implement any adjustments that may be necessary during this phase. We will continue to work closely with the countries contributing to UNIFIL troops to ensure that you receive enhanced capabilities, including mine clearance and the disposal of unexploded ordnance, to enable you to resume patrols and monitoring missions.
“These capabilities, along with the operational methods within the framework of your mandate, are vital to restoring freedom of movement and access across UNIFIL’s area of operations.”
Guterres also stressed that the same messages would be conveyed to the Lebanese officials with whom he is scheduled to meet on Saturday.
He continued: “All parties have an obligation to ensure the safety of our personnel. The inviolability of UN premises must be respected at all times. Attacks against peacekeepers are absolutely unacceptable. They violate international law and international humanitarian law and may constitute a war crime.
“The Lebanese Armed Forces, as the sole guarantor of Lebanon’s security, are deploying in greater numbers in southern Lebanon, with the support of UNIFIL and members of the Cessation of Hostilities Implementation Mechanism.
“Your strong support and close coordination with the Lebanese Armed Forces will be essential to supporting a lasting cessation of hostilities and achieving the intended objective of Resolution 1701. We urge the international community to enhance its support for the Lebanese Armed Forces.”
Regarding the formation of a new government for Lebanon, and paving the way for its vote of confidence in parliament despite the absence of the two Shiite blocs — Amal Movement and Hezbollah — in the parliamentary consultations on its formation, Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam met speaker Nabih Berri, who had boycotted the consultations last Wednesday.
Following the meeting, Salam said: “There is a consensus from all blocs and independent MPs on the need to quickly revive the country and work on its recovery. Everyone is ready to cooperate positively. There are no obstacles or disruptions from any party. There are only two options: consensus and consensus. Disruptions and failure are not options.
“No one will obstruct, and no one will allow the government formation to fail, so that recovery can begin,” he continued. “Berri and I are on the same page. I will remain in constant contact with him until the government is formed.”
Salam did not discuss his plans for the government, but said he has “a preliminary vision … that I will present to Aoun.”


Lebanese PM to visit Syria, discuss disappearance of prisoners

Updated 13 April 2025
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Lebanese PM to visit Syria, discuss disappearance of prisoners

  • Nawaf Salam lays wreath at Martyrs’ Monument in Beirut to commemorate 50th anniversary of Lebanese Civil War

LONDON: Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam is scheduled to visit the Syrian Arab Republic on Monday to discuss common interests with the new leadership in Damascus.

It will be Salam’s first visit to Syria since he formed a government in February, and he is scheduled to discuss the issue of Lebanese citizens who disappeared in Syrian prisons during the Bashar Assad regime that collapsed in December. It has been reported that 622 Lebanese nationals remain forcibly disappeared in Syrian prisons.

“I hope to return with good news about those missing in Syria, and I will update the Lebanese people on this issue tomorrow,” Salam said, according to the National News Agency.

Salam laid a wreath at the Martyrs’ Monument in Beirut on Sunday to commemorate the anniversary of April 13, the date when Lebanon’s Civil War began in 1975.

Salam wrote on X: “We pause not to reopen wounds, but to recall lessons that must never be forgotten. All victories were false, and all parties (from the war) emerged as losers.”

He added: “There can be no true state unless legitimate armed forces have the exclusive right to bear arms.”


Aid worker missing after deadly attack on colleagues is held by Israel, ICRC says

PRCS paramedic Assad Al-Nsasrah is being held in an Israeli place of detention. (@PalestineRCS)
Updated 13 April 2025
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Aid worker missing after deadly attack on colleagues is held by Israel, ICRC says

  • PRCS demanded the immediate release of Nsasrah, who it said was “forcibly abducted” while carrying out humanitarian duties

CAIRO: A Palestinian Red Crescent staff member who went missing in late March when 15 humanitarian workers were killed by Israeli fire is being detained by Israeli authorities, the rescue service and the Red Cross said on Sunday.
Hisham Mhana, the spokesperson for the ICRC in Gaza, confirmed to Reuters that it had received information that the Palestine Red Crescent Society paramedic Assad Al-Nsasrah was being held in an Israeli place of detention.
“As per standard practice, we informed the families immediately. In this case, we also informed the Palestine Red Crescent Society as they have special standing as a partner of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement,” he said.
The Israeli army did not immediately comment.
Mhana said the ICRC has not been granted access to Nsasrah, who until Sunday had been declared missing, and also has not been able to visit any of the Palestinian detainees and prisoners in Israeli jails since October 7, 2023.
In a post on X, The PRCS demanded the immediate release of Nsasrah, who it said was “forcibly abducted” while carrying out humanitarian duties.
It added that Nsasrah and his colleagues came under heavy gunfire, which led to the killing of eight of them in a “grave violation” of international humanitarian law.
The bodies of 15 emergency and aid workers from the Red Crescent, the Civil Emergency Service and the UN were found buried in a mass grave in southern Gaza in March.
The UN and the Red Crescent accused Israeli forces of killing them after they were dispatched to respond to reports of injuries from Israeli airstrikes.
The Israeli military referred Reuters to its statement from Monday, in which it said that a thorough inquiry into the incident was still underway and that it would provide further details only once the investigation is complete.
It said that a preliminary inquiry indicated that “the troops opened fire due to a perceived threat following a previous encounter in the area, and that six of the individuals killed in the incident were identified as Hamas terrorists.”
The Israeli military has provided no evidence of how it determined that the six were Hamas militants, and the Islamist faction has rejected the accusation.
The only known survivor of the incident, PRCS paramedic Munther Abed, said soldiers had opened fire on clearly marked emergency response vehicles.


Moroccans demonstrate in support of Palestinians

Updated 13 April 2025
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Moroccans demonstrate in support of Palestinians

  • Demonstrators marched through the streets of Rabat under pouring rain in response to a call from the National Action Group for Palestine

RABAT: Several thousand people demonstrated in Morocco’s capital on Sunday to show support for Palestinians in war-torn Gaza.
Under pouring rain, demonstrators marched through the streets of Rabat in response to a call from the National Action Group for Palestine, a coalition of several political organizations, including the Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD).
“The Moroccans are with Gaza,” said the principal of a private school in Rabat who spoke to AFP.
The North African kingdom has officially called for “the immediate, complete and permanent halt to the Israeli war on Gaza,” but has not publicly discussed reversing the official establishment of ties with Israel in 2020 as part of the US-led Abraham Accords.
The latest protest followed another large rally held a week earlier, part of a spate of demonstrations across the country since the Israeli army resumed its offensive on March 18 against the Islamist group Hamas after a two-month truce in Gaza.


Israel denies entry to Jerusalem for Palestinian Christians marking Palm Sunday

Updated 13 April 2025
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Israel denies entry to Jerusalem for Palestinian Christians marking Palm Sunday

  • Israeli restrictions at checkpoints around Jerusalem require Palestinians to obtain security permits to access religious sites
  • Only 6,000 permits were issued this year to the West Bank’s 50,000 Christians

LONDON: Israeli authorities prevented Palestinian Christian worshippers from entering Jerusalem from the occupied West Bank to participate in Palm Sunday.

Israeli authorities imposed strict restrictions on Jerusalem over the weekend, limiting the access of Palestinian Christians to the city, the Wafa news agency reported.

Only a limited number of worshippers, primarily residents of Jerusalem and Palestinian citizens of Israel, were able to attend religious services at Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Wafa added.

Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week leading up to Easter. It commemorates the entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem and is observed by Eastern and Western Christian churches.

On Sunday, Patriarch Theophilos III of the Greek Orthodox Church and Latin Patriarch Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa led liturgies attended by the clergy and a small group of worshipers.

Israeli restrictions at checkpoints around Jerusalem require Palestinians — Muslim and Christian — to obtain permits to access religious sites, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Father Ibrahim Faltas, Vicar of the Custody of the Holy Land, noted that only 6,000 permits were issued this year to the West Bank’s 50,000 Christians. Permit issuance requires a security clearance and often asks that applicants download a mobile application managed by Israeli authorities.

“This is the second consecutive year that only a small number of pilgrims are able to participate in Holy Week and Easter celebrations in Jerusalem due to the ongoing conflict (in Gaza),” Faltas told Wafa.

“Churches would continue to pray for peace, justice, and freedom for all people in the Holy Land,” he added.

The Catholic Palm Sunday procession took place on Sunday afternoon, starting from Jerusalem's Church of Bethphage and ending at the Church of Saint Anne.

Christians gathered for services at the Holy Family Catholic Church and Saint Porphyrius Greek Orthodox Church in the Gaza Strip amid the ongoing Israeli attacks since late 2023. In the West Bank, Palm Sunday services were held in churches throughout Bethlehem, Jericho, Ramallah, Nablus, and Jenin.


Syrian President Sharaa heads to UAE on official visit - SANA

Updated 13 April 2025
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Syrian President Sharaa heads to UAE on official visit - SANA

CAIRO: Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa will travel to the United Arab Emirates for his second visit to a Gulf state as president on Sunday, Syria's official news agency reported.
He will be accompanied by foreign minister Assad al-Shibani, who visited the UAE earlier this year.
They are expected to discuss issues of mutual interest, the SANA state news agency reported.
Sharaa visited Saudi Arabia in February on his first foreign trip since assuming the presidency in January.
His visit to the UAE comes as the new Syrian leadership attempts to strengthen ties with Arab and Western leaders following the fall of Bashar al-Assad in December at the hands of Sharaa's Sunni Islamist group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.

 

(With Reuters)