Lebanon: Macron’s Call for Unity Government Is Based on US-Led International Consensus

French President Emmanuel Macron and Lebanese President Michel Aoun walk side by side at Beirut airport, Lebanon August 6, 2020. Thibault Camus/Pool via REUTERS
French President Emmanuel Macron and Lebanese President Michel Aoun walk side by side at Beirut airport, Lebanon August 6, 2020. Thibault Camus/Pool via REUTERS
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Lebanon: Macron’s Call for Unity Government Is Based on US-Led International Consensus

French President Emmanuel Macron and Lebanese President Michel Aoun walk side by side at Beirut airport, Lebanon August 6, 2020. Thibault Camus/Pool via REUTERS
French President Emmanuel Macron and Lebanese President Michel Aoun walk side by side at Beirut airport, Lebanon August 6, 2020. Thibault Camus/Pool via REUTERS

Political circles said that the solidarity visit of French President Emmanuel Macron to Beirut opened the door to increasing regional and international contacts to provide medical and food aid to the stricken Lebanese capital.

The world has responded to France’s call for an international conference in Paris this Sunday, which is aimed at rallying aid and providing all forms of relief to the people of Beirut.

The conference, however, does not intend to secure the necessary financial support for the reconstruction of affected neighborhoods, which seems to be linked to the formation of a national unity government, as the international community is refusing to deal with the current government as the competent administration to undertake such a task.

Political sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Macron’s initiative was preceded by a phone call between the latter and US President Donald Trump, who reportedly gave his French counterpart the green light to launch his initiative.

Trump will also participate in the international conference on Sunday.

According to the sources, Macron’s call for a national unity government is based on an international consensus led by Washington, given that Paris is the most capable of communicating with the parties concerned with its formation, including Hezbollah.

The same sources said that the disaster that struck Beirut resulted in an international warning that the collapse of Lebanon would inevitably lead to the fall of its political forces, and there would be no winner if the country was not saved.

The sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Macron was not against holding early parliamentary elections, but that those must be done through a constitutional mechanism. They added that the French president was convinced that the current priority was to save the country, even if only temporarily, otherwise the collapse would be inevitable.

In this context, Macron called on the Lebanese decision-makers not to involve Lebanon, at least in the foreseeable future, in the Iranian-Israeli conflict. Although the sources did not have any information about whether the French president was in contact with Tehran before his visit to Beirut, they did not rule out the presence of intermittent negotiations between Iran and the United States.



UN Security Council Says Peacekeeping Force Should Remain on the Israel-Syria Border

Israeli army humvees move in the UN-patrolled buffer zone separating Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights, near the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Israel-annexed Golan Heights on December 21, 2024. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)
Israeli army humvees move in the UN-patrolled buffer zone separating Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights, near the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Israel-annexed Golan Heights on December 21, 2024. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)
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UN Security Council Says Peacekeeping Force Should Remain on the Israel-Syria Border

Israeli army humvees move in the UN-patrolled buffer zone separating Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights, near the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Israel-annexed Golan Heights on December 21, 2024. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)
Israeli army humvees move in the UN-patrolled buffer zone separating Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights, near the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Israel-annexed Golan Heights on December 21, 2024. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)

The UN Security Council has unanimously approved a resolution extending the UN peacekeeping force on the Israel-Syria border and underscoring that there should be no military activities in the demilitarized buffer zone.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israeli troops will occupy the buffer zone for the foreseeable future. Israel captured the buffer zone shortly after the collapse of Syrian President Bashar Assad's government, The Associated Press said.
The resolution adopted Friday stressed that both countries are obligated “to scrupulously and fully respect” the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement that ended the 1973 war between Syria and Israel and established the buffer zone. The resolution was co-sponsored by the United States and Russia.
The Security Council extended the mandate of the UN peacekeeping force monitoring the border area, known as UNDOF, until June 30, 2025 and called for a halt to all military actions throughout the country including in UNDOF’s area of operations.
The resolution expresses concern that ongoing military activities in the area of separation have the potential to escalate Israeli-Syrian tensions and jeopardize the 1974 ceasefire. It also expresses alarm that violence in Syria “risks a serious conflagration of the conflict in the region.”