France Faces Crisis of Presidential Candidates in Lebanon

Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rai is pictured in Bkerke, Lebanon October 30, 2021. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rai is pictured in Bkerke, Lebanon October 30, 2021. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
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France Faces Crisis of Presidential Candidates in Lebanon

Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rai is pictured in Bkerke, Lebanon October 30, 2021. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rai is pictured in Bkerke, Lebanon October 30, 2021. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo

French President Emmanuel Macron met on Tuesday with Lebanon’s Patriarch Beshara Rai at the Elysee Palace and showed “remarkable hospitality” in a bid to assure the Lebanese, mainly the Maronite Christians, that France will always be their “caring mother”.

Through the distinguished reception of Rai in the courtyard of the Elysée Palace, Macron wanted to display a message to Lebanon’s Christians that his country is still committed to support them, despite the divergence with the majority of the Christian forces over the presidential file.

French diplomats are often criticized at events and meetings for the mismanagement of the Lebanese file. Some speak of “disregard” and others of French “neglect” of the Christians, while some go so far as to describe the French proposal to elect former minister Sleiman Franjieh as “treason.”

A senior French diplomat acknowledges this reality, but describes it differently.

He said: “Their primary concern is to fill the vacuum at the top state post."

According to the diplomat, France believes that the election of a president is the first step to revive the country’s constitutional and government work, which has been disrupted since Nov. 1, 2022, when President Michel Aoun left office without the political parties being able to agree on a successor.

The diplomat went on to say that the French chose Franjieh over the vacuum at the top state post, but were not insisting on him.

“We will work with any president that [the Lebanese] agree upon, because the next stage is the most important,” he underlined, pointing to the need to launch political reform and work with the World Bank to develop a road map that would help the country to overcome its financial crisis.

The French are aware of the importance of the opposition forces reaching an agreement over the name of a candidate. They consider the election of the president an absolute priority.

The French diplomat continued: “The most important matter is to preserve the institutions, and the presidency is the key.”

During their meeting, Macron and Rai agreed that the “political and constitutional impasse was the biggest obstacle facing the country.”

They both stressed the need for Lebanon to elect a new president as quickly as possible.

There was also an agreement, according to the French diplomat, that France continues to support the Lebanese educational sector, which is essential to preserve the country.

Since 2020, France has offered about 90 million euros for Francophone Christian schools, where the majority of students are Muslims.

Other points that Macron and Rai emphasized include the necessity of preserving “the health system and food security for the Lebanese, strengthening the judiciary, and expediting the investigations into the Beirut port explosion,” the French diplomat told Asharq Al-Awsat.

 



One in 10 Children Screened in UNRWA Clinics are Malnourished

Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 14, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 14, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
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One in 10 Children Screened in UNRWA Clinics are Malnourished

Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 14, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 14, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa

One in 10 children screened in clinics run by the United Nations refugee agency in Gaza since 2024 has been malnourished, the agency said on Tuesday.

"Our health teams are confirming that malnutrition rates are increasing in Gaza, especially since the siege was tightened more than four months ago on the second of March," UNRWA's Director of Communications, Juliette Touma, told reporters in Geneva via a video link from Amman, Jordan.

Since January 2024, UNRWA said it had screened more than 240,000 boys and girls under the age of five in its clinics, adding that before the war, acute malnutrition was rarely seen in the Gaza Strip.

"One nurse that we spoke to told us that in the past, he only saw these cases of malnutrition in textbooks and documentaries," Reuters quoted Touma as saying.

"Medicine, nutrition supplies, hygiene material, fuel are all rapidly running out," Touma said.

On May 19, Israel lifted an 11-week aid blockade on Gaza, allowing limited UN deliveries to resume. However, UNRWA continues to be banned from bringing aid into the enclave.

Israel and the United States have accused Palestinian militant group Hamas of stealing from UN-led aid operations - which Hamas denies. They have instead set up the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, using private US security and logistics firms to transport aid to distribution hubs, which the UN has refused to work with.

On Monday, UNICEF said that last month more than 5,800 children were diagnosed with malnutrition in Gaza, including more than 1,000 children with severe, acute malnutrition. It said it was an increase for the fourth month in a row.