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Lebanon: No Final Deal on Delegation Attending ISG Meeting in Paris

President Michel Aoun met on November with a delegation of ambassadors from the International Support Group for Lebanon. NNA
President Michel Aoun met on November with a delegation of ambassadors from the International Support Group for Lebanon. NNA
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Lebanon: No Final Deal on Delegation Attending ISG Meeting in Paris

President Michel Aoun met on November with a delegation of ambassadors from the International Support Group for Lebanon. NNA
President Michel Aoun met on November with a delegation of ambassadors from the International Support Group for Lebanon. NNA

Lebanon hasn’t yet decided on the delegation attending a meeting of the International Support Group for Lebanon hosted by France on Wednesday to mobilize assistance for the country.

Lebanese ministerial sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that France sent an invitation to Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry Secretary-General Hani Chemaittelly, while French Ambassador to Beirut Bruno Foucher sent a copy of the same invitation to both President Michel Aoun and caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri.

However, there was confusion in Beirut on which official would head the Lebanese delegation to Paris.

The sources said that Chemaittelly was supposed to head the delegation. However, there were suggestions for caretaker Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil to assume that role.

“After Khalil apologized from attending the Paris meeting, contacts held among political parties suggested that Director-General of the presidency Antoine Choucair heads the delegation, which would include Chemaittelly, Ambassador Ghadi Khoury, Director of Political Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Hazar Caracalla, economic advisor to the Prime Minister.”

Some figures also suggested the participation of Alain Bifani, Director-General of the Finance Ministry and Lebanon’s Ambassador to Paris Rami Adwan.

However, the sources asserted that there was no final decision on the matter.

France is scheduled to host a meeting of the ISG for Lebanon in an effort to send clear messages to the leaders of the country, which has seen a deteriorating political and economic crisis since anti-government protests erupted on Oct. 17.

The Group plans to call on Lebanese officials to swiftly form a new government in light of the difficult social, economic and financial situation.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian would deliver the opening speech while the ministry’s secretary general is expected to lead the discussions.

Wednesday’s meeting comes as Lebanon delayed parliamentary consultations to name a new Prime Minister till next Monday.

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Arab World

Fresh Syria Protests Call for Accountability for Assad-Era Loyalists

A large Syrian flag flutters above Tishreen Park in Damascus, June 4, 2025. (AFP)
A large Syrian flag flutters above Tishreen Park in Damascus, June 4, 2025. (AFP)
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Fresh Syria Protests Call for Accountability for Assad-Era Loyalists

A large Syrian flag flutters above Tishreen Park in Damascus, June 4, 2025. (AFP)
A large Syrian flag flutters above Tishreen Park in Damascus, June 4, 2025. (AFP)

Dozens of Syrians protested in Damascus overnight into Wednesday demanding accountability for supporters of ousted ruler Bashar al-Assad, the latest such demonstrations in a country still recovering after years of civil war.

Syria's new authorities have repeatedly vowed to provide justice and accountability for Assad-era atrocities, and have regularly announced the arrest of former military and security figures, launching trials for some while warning against acts of "revenge".

Video footage posted on social media and confirmed by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor appeared to show dozens of people protesting in the capital's Mazzeh 86 neighborhood.

A protest also erupted in front of a nearby mosque before security forces restored order.

An AFP photographer saw a similar demonstration on Monday night on the outskirts of the capital.

"Assad's shabiha forced us to leave in green buses" for tented displacement camps in the country's north, said protester Abdel-Rahman al-Qadri, 38, a former opposition fighter.

He was referring to militiamen who helped crush dissent under Assad, and to evacuation deals imposed on some opposition-held areas during Syria's civil war, which erupted in 2011 and ended with the longtime ruler's 2024 ouster.

"We deserve the houses they live in, we deserve the positions and public sector jobs," said Qadri, who is unemployed.

Neighborhoods considered strongholds of the former authorities in the major cities of Aleppo and Idlib have seen similar protests in recent days, with participants calling for so-called "regime remnants" and "shabiha" to be put on trial.

Local residents there said some protests have involved vandalism of private property, raising tensions and fears of vigilante justice.

On Monday, interior ministry spokesperson Noureddine al-Baba said authorities were committed to bringing perpetrators of Assad-era crimes to justice through legal avenues, but "the state categorically rejects turning the demand for accountability into an act of revenge".

Last week, President Ahmed al-Sharaa warned that "it is important not to use transitional justice as a pretext for revenge".

Lawyer Aref al-Shaal said on social media that authorities were "caught between street pressure demanding accountability immediately, and efforts to control the issue and to fight the 'shabiha' through an established legal framework that prevents a slippage towards chaos".

Arab World

Hezbollah Chief Says Lebanon-Israel Talks Should Be Limited to Mutual Security

Smoke billows from southern Lebanon, as seen from Nabatieh, following Israeli strikes reported by local residents, in Lebanon, June 17, 2026. (Reuters).
Smoke billows from southern Lebanon, as seen from Nabatieh, following Israeli strikes reported by local residents, in Lebanon, June 17, 2026. (Reuters).
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Hezbollah Chief Says Lebanon-Israel Talks Should Be Limited to Mutual Security

Smoke billows from southern Lebanon, as seen from Nabatieh, following Israeli strikes reported by local residents, in Lebanon, June 17, 2026. (Reuters).
Smoke billows from southern Lebanon, as seen from Nabatieh, following Israeli strikes reported by local residents, in Lebanon, June 17, 2026. (Reuters).

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said Wednesday that Lebanon's negotiations with Israel should be limited to "mutual security", and that the country's main demand should be restoring its sovereignty after Israeli troops invaded the south. 

"The ceiling for the negotiations with the Israeli enemy is mutual security... and any proposal under the banner of disarmament will not pass, as this is an Israeli recipe for taking everything and wrecking the country," Qassem said in a televised address. 

"Everything linked to organizing our domestic situation, whether the issue of weapons or the economy, or the national security strategy or defense strategy... it all must be completely outside the negotiations. This we discuss internally. Therefore in any negotiation, the main demand must be Lebanon's sovereignty," he added. 

Qassem also said that an understanding reached between Tehran and Washington to end the regional war was a "great victory", and urged Lebanon to seize the moment to expel Israeli forces.  

"We congratulate the Iranian people, the resistance and the countries and peoples of the region and the world who yearn for independence and freedom on this great victory," he said, urging Lebanon to "benefit from this pivotal point". 

Arab World

More Than 1,000 People Have Been Killed in Gaza During Ceasefire, Health Ministry Says

A boy sweeps through the rubble of a building that was destroyed following Israeli bombardment after an evacuation order, at the Maghazi camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on June 12, 2026. (AFP)
A boy sweeps through the rubble of a building that was destroyed following Israeli bombardment after an evacuation order, at the Maghazi camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on June 12, 2026. (AFP)
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More Than 1,000 People Have Been Killed in Gaza During Ceasefire, Health Ministry Says

A boy sweeps through the rubble of a building that was destroyed following Israeli bombardment after an evacuation order, at the Maghazi camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on June 12, 2026. (AFP)
A boy sweeps through the rubble of a building that was destroyed following Israeli bombardment after an evacuation order, at the Maghazi camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on June 12, 2026. (AFP)

Israeli operations in the Gaza Strip have killed 1,005 Palestinians since a ceasefire was reached between Israel and the Hamas group last October, the Gaza Health Ministry said on Wednesday.

The enclave has seen near-daily strikes, as well as shelling and gunfire along the boundary that divides Gaza into Israeli and Palestinian-controlled zones. The most recent deaths were recorded after a series of Israeli drone strikes in the past few days on towns and refugee camps in central Gaza and Gaza City.

Israel has said it is continuing to operate against Hamas and allied fighters in Gaza and has expanded the amount of territory it controls inside the strip.

In a statement Wednesday, the Israeli military said that it killed two fighters from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in strikes over the weekend.

Gaza’s Health Ministry on Sunday said the death toll from the Israel-Hamas war had surpassed 73,000 in Gaza. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. It is staffed by medical professionals and maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by the international community.