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Macron Calls On Israel to Avoid Escalation, 'Particularly in Lebanon'

French President Emmanuel Macron speaks to the media during the second day of a European Union leaders summit, as EU leaders attempt to agree on Russian oil sanctions in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Brussels, Belgium May 31, 2022. (Reuters)
French President Emmanuel Macron speaks to the media during the second day of a European Union leaders summit, as EU leaders attempt to agree on Russian oil sanctions in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Brussels, Belgium May 31, 2022. (Reuters)
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Macron Calls On Israel to Avoid Escalation, 'Particularly in Lebanon'

French President Emmanuel Macron speaks to the media during the second day of a European Union leaders summit, as EU leaders attempt to agree on Russian oil sanctions in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Brussels, Belgium May 31, 2022. (Reuters)
French President Emmanuel Macron speaks to the media during the second day of a European Union leaders summit, as EU leaders attempt to agree on Russian oil sanctions in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Brussels, Belgium May 31, 2022. (Reuters)

French President Emmanuel Macron called on Israel to avoid escalation, "particularly in Lebanon", following a strike in Beirut attributed to Israel that killed Hamas's deputy leader, the Elysee Palace said Tuesday.

Macron, who spoke by telephone with Israeli minister and war cabinet member Benny Gantz, said "it was essential to avoid any escalatory attitude, particularly in Lebanon, and that France would continue to pass on these messages to all players directly or indirectly involved in the area", the presidency said.

Hamas number two Saleh al-Aruri was killed in a strike attributed to Israel in a suburb of Beirut on Tuesday evening, the Palestinian militant group and Lebanese security officials said, AFP reported.

Israel regularly carries out strikes against the Hamas-allied Hezbollah movement along its shared border with Lebanon, but Aruri's killing was the first time since the start of the war in Gaza that it has targeted the Lebanese capital.

After the strike, Hezbollah vowed Aruri's death would not go "unpunished", calling it "a serious assault on Lebanon... and a dangerous development in the course of the war".

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati also condemned the killing and said it "aims to draw Lebanon" further into the Israel-Hamas war.

In his conversation with Gantz, Macron reiterated his call for a "lasting ceasefire" between Israel and Hamas, the presidency said.

He also expressed again his "deepest concern" at the mounting civilian death toll in Gaza, as well as the humanitarian crisis unfolding inside the Palestinian territory, while at the same time reaffirming "France's commitment to the security of Israel".

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Arab World

Lebanon’s Jumblatt Visits Syria, Hoping for a Post-Assad Reset in Troubled Relations

Walid Jumblatt (C), the Druze former leader of Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), and his son and current party head Taymur Jumblatt (C-L) meet with Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) and interim prime minister Mohammad al-Bashir (L) during a visit to Damascus on December 22, 2024. (AFP)
Walid Jumblatt (C), the Druze former leader of Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), and his son and current party head Taymur Jumblatt (C-L) meet with Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) and interim prime minister Mohammad al-Bashir (L) during a visit to Damascus on December 22, 2024. (AFP)
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Lebanon’s Jumblatt Visits Syria, Hoping for a Post-Assad Reset in Troubled Relations

Walid Jumblatt (C), the Druze former leader of Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), and his son and current party head Taymur Jumblatt (C-L) meet with Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) and interim prime minister Mohammad al-Bashir (L) during a visit to Damascus on December 22, 2024. (AFP)
Walid Jumblatt (C), the Druze former leader of Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), and his son and current party head Taymur Jumblatt (C-L) meet with Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) and interim prime minister Mohammad al-Bashir (L) during a visit to Damascus on December 22, 2024. (AFP)

Former head of Lebanon’s Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), Druze leader Walid Jumblatt held talks on Sunday with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, whose group led the overthrow of Syria's President Bashar Assad, with both expressing hope for a new era in relations between their countries.

Jumblatt was a longtime critic of Syria's involvement in Lebanon and blamed Assad's father, former President Hafez Assad, for the assassination of his own father decades ago. He is the most prominent Lebanese politician to visit Syria since the Assad family's 54-year rule came to an end.

“We salute the Syrian people for their great victories and we salute you for your battle that you waged to get rid of oppression and tyranny that lasted over 50 years,” said Jumblatt.

He expressed hope that Lebanese-Syrian relations “will return to normal.”

Jumblatt's father, Kamal, was killed in 1977 in an ambush near a Syrian roadblock during Syria's military intervention in Lebanon's civil war. The younger Jumblatt was a critic of the Assads, though he briefly allied with them at one point to gain influence in Lebanon's ever-shifting political alignments.

“Syria was a source of concern and disturbance, and its interference in Lebanese affairs was negative,” al-Sharaa said, referring to the Assad government. “Syria will no longer be a case of negative interference in Lebanon," he said, pledging that it would respect Lebanese sovereignty.

Al-Sharaa also repeated longstanding allegations that Assad's government was behind the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, which was followed by other killings of prominent Lebanese critics of Assad.

Last year, the United Nations closed an international tribunal investigating the assassination after it convicted three members of Lebanon's Hezbollah — an ally of Assad — in absentia. Hezbollah denied involvement in the massive Feb. 14, 2005 bombing, which killed Hariri and 21 others.

“We hope that all those who committed crimes against the Lebanese will be held accountable, and that fair trials will be held for those who committed crimes against the Syrian people,” Jumblatt said.