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Algeria, France Resume Dialogue after Fifteen Months of Tensions

The Algerian and French Presidents at the 2022 Sharm el-Sheikh climate summit (Algerian Presidency)
The Algerian and French Presidents at the 2022 Sharm el-Sheikh climate summit (Algerian Presidency)
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Algeria, France Resume Dialogue after Fifteen Months of Tensions

The Algerian and French Presidents at the 2022 Sharm el-Sheikh climate summit (Algerian Presidency)
The Algerian and French Presidents at the 2022 Sharm el-Sheikh climate summit (Algerian Presidency)

A senior French official held talks in Algeria this week to revive political and security dialogue between the two countries, the first concrete step toward ending 15 months of tensions triggered by Paris’s recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara in late July 2024.

Anne-Marie Descôtes, Secretary-General of the French Foreign Ministry, visited Algiers on Thursday. Her trip, which comes amid signs of a thaw, was also referenced the same day during the French Foreign Ministry’s daily press briefing by its spokesperson, Christophe Lemoine.

Restarting bilateral cooperation

Responding to questions about the easing tensions, according to the ministry’s published transcript, Lemoine addressed the release of Algerian French writer Boualem Sansal.

Sansal received a presidential pardon on humanitarian grounds on December 12, granted by Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune at the request of German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

Lemoine said the Foreign Ministry was “deeply moved” by the return of two previously detained French citizens, Camilo Castro and Sansal.

Camilo Castro, a French yoga instructor, was abducted and held in Venezuela for more than four months before being released recently. His family and human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, said he had been detained by Venezuelan authorities in “extremely harsh” conditions, and Caracas never disclosed the reason for his arrest.

Lemoine said French diplomacy “spared no effort” to secure the release of both men, adding that the foreign minister had thanked all those in France and within its diplomatic network who contributed to the “happy outcome.”

Asked about Descôtes’ visit to Algeria, Lemoine said there was a “desire to deliver concrete results that benefit French women and men.”

He added that Descôtes was in Algeria for “a working visit to relaunch bilateral cooperation in the fields of migration, security and the economy, all within a dialogue that requires much effort and must produce results for our citizens.”

A symbolic handshake

Asked whether Presidents Tebboune and Emmanuel Macron might meet on the sidelines of the Group of Twenty summit, which opened Thursday in South Africa, Lemoine referred the question to the Élysée and to Algerian authorities.

“As for what may or may not happen at the G20, I refer you to the Élysée, which manages the agenda. I cannot comment on the Algerian president’s schedule, please refer to Algerian authorities,” he said.

According to Algerian political sources, both sides had worked to arrange a brief “handshake” between the two leaders during the summit, which Tebboune had been invited to attend, as a “strong symbolic signal” of reconciliation.

However, Tebboune did not travel to South Africa and instead sent Prime Minister Sifi Ghrieb to represent him. Tebboune had announced a month earlier that he would attend the summit. The reason for his absence remains unclear.

The Algerian news site Tout sur l’Algérie reported that Descôtes’ visit was intended to pave the way for the resumption of dialogue between the two countries ahead of an expected late-month or early-next-month visit by the French Interior Minister.

Citing its sources, the outlet said Algeria “does not want its relationship with France reduced to migration and security,” signaling that Algiers wants a broader approach encompassing politics, the economy, culture, education and regional cooperation.

According to the outlet, “strengthening bilateral partnerships” will be one of the key objectives of French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez’s trip.

In recent weeks he has said he wants a more flexible approach toward Algeria, in contrast to his predecessor, Bruno Retailleau, who was at the center of the months-long tensions and had taken a hard line on deporting Algerians ordered to leave French territory, whom Algeria refused to accept.

Algerian authorities did not announce Descôtes’ visit, during which she met her Algerian counterpart for a few hours. Analysts said Algiers did not want to give the talks an official character, preferring to reserve that for Nuñez’s visit.

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Arab World

Blasts Heard as Lebanese State Media Says Israel Strikes Beirut Suburbs

The rubble of a damaged building after an Israeli strike in the Chiyah area, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, 25 March 2026. (EPA)
The rubble of a damaged building after an Israeli strike in the Chiyah area, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, 25 March 2026. (EPA)
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Blasts Heard as Lebanese State Media Says Israel Strikes Beirut Suburbs

The rubble of a damaged building after an Israeli strike in the Chiyah area, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, 25 March 2026. (EPA)
The rubble of a damaged building after an Israeli strike in the Chiyah area, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, 25 March 2026. (EPA)

Lebanese media reported an Israeli strike hit Beirut's southern suburbs early Friday, as AFP correspondents heard several explosions from the Hezbollah stronghold that Israel has repeatedly struck since war erupted this month.

AFPTV footage showed smoke billowing from the area after the raid.

Lebanon's official National News Agency reported that "enemy aircraft" carried out a raid on Tahouitet al-Ghadir in the southern suburbs at dawn.

Israel has previously issued sweeping evacuation warnings for the area, but provided no specific warning in advance of Friday's strike.

The usually densely populated area has largely emptied of residents since the hostilities erupted, and it was unclear whether there were any casualties.

Hours later, Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee called on residents of Sejoud village in southern Lebanon to evacuate to the north of Zahrani river, warning of an imminent attack against Hezbollah.

Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war on March 2 when Tehran-backed Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel to avenge the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

Israel has since been bombing Lebanon, mainly in areas where Hezbollah has long held sway, and has sent in ground troops in a push to establish a buffer zone in south Lebanon.

Hezbollah said its fighters kept up its attacks on Israeli troops in south Lebanon early Friday.

On Thursday, official Lebanese media reported deadly Israeli raids in the country's south, and Hezbollah claimed more than 90 attacks on Israeli targets inside Lebanon and across the border.

Also Thursday, Israel's military said two soldiers were killed in south Lebanon, while Israeli emergency services said a rocket fired from Lebanon killed a man in northern Israel's Nahariya area.

Israeli strikes since March 2 have killed at least 1,116 people including 121 children, according to Lebanese authorities, while more than one million people have been displaced.

Arab World

Lebanon: Hezbollah Boycotts Cabinet Session over Iran Ambassador Expulsion

A previous session of the Lebanese Parliament (National News Agency)
A previous session of the Lebanese Parliament (National News Agency)
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Lebanon: Hezbollah Boycotts Cabinet Session over Iran Ambassador Expulsion

A previous session of the Lebanese Parliament (National News Agency)
A previous session of the Lebanese Parliament (National News Agency)

Ministers from Hezbollah and its ally Amal boycotted Lebanon's cabinet session on Thursday in protest over the government declaring the Iranian ambassador persona non grata, a Lebanese official told AFP.

The two Shiite parties have a combined four ministers, with one independent Shiite also represented in the cabinet present at the meeting, the official said, as the spat over the Iranian diplomat's expulsion escalated.

Hezbollah is an armed movement backed by Iran, which also has political representation in both government and parliament.

Arab World

Lebanese Fear Another Occupation as Israel Threatens to Use Gaza Tactics in the South

Israeli military vehicles maneuver on the Lebanese side of the border, as seen from the Upper Galilee in northern Israel, 25 March 2026. EPA/ATEF SAFADI
Israeli military vehicles maneuver on the Lebanese side of the border, as seen from the Upper Galilee in northern Israel, 25 March 2026. EPA/ATEF SAFADI
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Lebanese Fear Another Occupation as Israel Threatens to Use Gaza Tactics in the South

Israeli military vehicles maneuver on the Lebanese side of the border, as seen from the Upper Galilee in northern Israel, 25 March 2026. EPA/ATEF SAFADI
Israeli military vehicles maneuver on the Lebanese side of the border, as seen from the Upper Galilee in northern Israel, 25 March 2026. EPA/ATEF SAFADI

As Israel trades fire with Hezbollah, calls for mass evacuations and sends ground troops deeper into Lebanon, its leaders have hinted at a long-term occupation modeled on the devastating conquest of much of Gaza after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack.

Israel says it needs to establish a zone of control in the depopulated south to shield its own northern communities, which have faced daily rocket attacks since the Iran-backed militant Hezbollah group joined the wider war. Many in Lebanon fear that could mean the open-ended displacement of over a million people, the flattening of their homes and a loss of territory.

Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz said this week that it would create a “security zone” up to the Litani River, some 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border in some places. He said troops would destroy homes, which he claimed were being used by militants, and that residents would not return until northern Israel is safe.

The campaign would mirror the one in Gaza, in which Israeli forces flattened and largely depopulated the eastern half of the Palestinian territory, Katz said on Tuesday. Israel has said it won't withdraw from the enclave until Hamas disarms as part of a US-brokered ceasefire deal.

“We have ordered an acceleration in the destruction of Lebanese homes in contact-line villages to neutralize threats to Israeli communities, in accordance with the model of Beit Hanoun and Rafah in Gaza,” Katz said, referring to border towns that were largely obliterated.

From one war to the next

After a 2024 ceasefire halted Israel's last war with Hezbollah, Israeli forces gradually withdrew from southern Lebanon except for five strategic hilltops along the border.

Lebanese returned to find that homes, infrastructure, and some entire villages destroyed. Israel said it had dismantled Hezbollah infrastructure that could have been used to launch an Oct. 7-style attack, and it continued to strike what it said were militant targets on a near-daily basis after the truce.

Hezbollah resumed it attacks after Israel and the United States launched the war with Iran on Feb. 28, accusing Israel of having repeatedly violated the ceasefire. Israel accused Lebanon's government of failing to carry out its pledge to disarm Hezbollah, despite its unprecedented steps toward criminalizing the group.

In the latest fighting, Israel has launched blistering air raids across Lebanon, killing more than 1,000 people — mostly outside of the border area — and displacing over a million. It has warned residents to evacuate a wide swath of the south, extending from the border to the Zahrani River, some 55 kilometers (34 miles) away.

The Israeli military says it has launched a limited ground operation. Political leaders speak of more ambitious plans.

Bezalel Smotrich, Israel's far-right finance minister and a member of its Security Cabinet, said this week that the current war must end with “fundamental change.”

“The Litani must be our new border with the state of Lebanon,” he said.

Echoes of an earlier occupation Israel invaded southern Lebanon in 1982 during the country's civil war. Hezbollah, established that year, waged a guerrilla campaign that eventually ended the Israeli occupation in 2000.

This time around, Israel has bombed seven bridges over the Litani, the northern edge of a UN-patrolled buffer zone established after previous conflicts. Israel says Hezbollah was using the bridges to move fighters and weapons, and that its military will control the remaining crossings.

Heavy fighting has meanwhile erupted in the town of Khiam, the fall of which would cut off the south from Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley, another area with a large Hezbollah presence.

After the bridges were bombed, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun accused Israel of seeking to sever the south from the rest of the country “to establish a buffer zone, entrench the reality of occupation, and pursue Israeli expansion within Lebanese territories.”

UN peacekeepers say the bombing of the bridges and ongoing clashes have hindered their operations and put personnel at risk.

“This is the closest fighting activity we have seen to our positions,” said Kandice Ardel, spokesperson for the UN mission known as UNIFIL. “Bullets, fragments, and shrapnel have hit buildings and open areas inside our headquarters.”

Ardel said peacekeepers at observation points have seen a growing presence of Israeli troops and “engineering assets,” though they have not seen any new military positions built yet.

‘Different shades’ of control

Mohanad Hage Ali, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East think tank in Beirut, said Israel has already established “different shades” of control.

“The first line of borders is a no-man zone. This is basically a large parking lot that is facing Israel,” he said. “There is nothing there, no movement, nothing at all.”

Lebanese movement is restricted farther north. During last year's olive harvest, farmers struggled to reach their groves because of regular Israeli strikes and had to be accompanied by Lebanese troops and UNIFIL peacekeepers, who coordinated with Israel.

Sarit Zehavi, the founder and president of the Alma Institute and a retired Israeli military officer, said Israel will likely establish a more extensive area of control stretching farther north.

She acknowledged that Israel was unlikely to defeat Hezbollah and was at risk of having to maintain a long-term presence in southern Lebanon.

“But the other alternative is to take the risk that we will be slaughtered. It’s as simple as that,” she said.

No diplomatic offramp in sight

Lebanon's government has broken a longstanding taboo by proposing direct talks with Israel. It has also taken action against Hezbollah since the last war, criminalizing its activities and claiming to have dismantled hundreds of military positions.

But neither the US nor Israel has shown any interest in such talks as they focus on the wider war with Iran.

If negotiations occur, Israel could demand major concessions in exchange for relinquishing territory taken by force — an updated version of the decades-old “land for peace” formula.

Israel seized parts of Syria after the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar Assad and is in talks with the new government in Damascus about an updated security arrangement. In Gaza, it has vowed to keep half the territory until the militant Palestinian Hamas group lays down its arms, as each side has accused the other of violating the truce reached in October.

Lebanese who fled their homes are meanwhile in limbo — and some fear they may never return.

Elias Konsol and his neighbors fled the Christian border village of Alma al-Shaab with UNIFIL's help. He was reunited with his mother, who cried in his arms, at a church near Beirut where funeral services were being held for a resident killed in an Israeli strike.

Konsol said there were no weapons or Hezbollah fighters in his village, but it was forced to evacuate anyway.

“We no longer know our fate,” he said. “We don’t know if we will see our homes and village again.”