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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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Lebanon Military Says One Soldier Killed, 18 Hurt in Israeli Strike on Army Center

Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb
Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb
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Lebanon Military Says One Soldier Killed, 18 Hurt in Israeli Strike on Army Center

Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb
Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb

An Israeli strike on a Lebanese army center on Sunday killed one soldier and wounded 18 others, the Lebanese military said.

It was the latest in a series of Israeli strikes that have killed over 40 Lebanese troops, even as the military has largely kept to the sidelines in the war between Israel and Hezbollah.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has said previous strikes on Lebanese troops were accidental and that they are not a target of its campaign against Hezbollah.

Lebanon's caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, condemned it as an assault on US-led ceasefire efforts, calling it a “direct, bloody message rejecting all efforts and ongoing contacts” to end the war.

“(Israel is) again writing in Lebanese blood a brazen rejection of the solution that is being discussed,” a statement from his office read.

The strike occurred in southwestern Lebanon on the coastal road between Tyre and Naqoura, where there has been heavy fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack out of the Gaza Strip ignited the war there. Hezbollah has portrayed the attacks as an act of solidarity with the Palestinians and Hamas. Iran supports both armed groups.

Israel has launched retaliatory airstrikes since the rocket fire began, and in September the low-level conflict erupted into all-out war, as Israel launched waves of airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon and killed Hezbollah's top leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and several of his top commanders.

Israeli airstrikes early Saturday pounded central Beirut, killing at least 20 people and wounding 66, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. Hezbollah has continued to fire regular barrages into Israel, forcing people to race for shelters and occasionally killing or wounding them.

Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. The fighting has displaced about 1.2 million people, or a quarter of Lebanon’s population.

On the Israeli side, about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed by bombardments in northern Israel and in battle following Israel's ground invasion in early October. Around 60,000 Israelis have been displaced from the country's north.

Hezbollah fired barrages of rockets into northern and central Israel on Sunday, some of which were intercepted.

Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service said it was treating two people in the central city of Petah Tikva, a 23-year-old man who was lightly wounded by a blast and a 70-year-old woman suffering from smoke inhalation from a car that caught fire. The first responders said they also treated two women in their 50s who were wounded in northern Israel.

It was unclear whether the injuries and damage were caused by the rockets or interceptors.

The Biden administration has spent months trying to broker a ceasefire, and US envoy Amos Hochstein was back in the region last week.

The emerging agreement would pave the way for the withdrawal of Hezbollah fighters and Israeli troops from southern Lebanon below the Litani River in accordance with the UN Security Council resolution that ended the 2006 war. Lebanese troops would patrol the area, with the presence of UN peacekeepers.