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Preparations underway for Macron’s Visit to Lebanon

French President Emmanuel Macron. (AFP)
French President Emmanuel Macron. (AFP)
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Preparations underway for Macron’s Visit to Lebanon

French President Emmanuel Macron. (AFP)
French President Emmanuel Macron. (AFP)

Lebanon received official notice from France that President Emmanuel Macron is planning on visiting the country at the invitation of President Michel Aoun.

The date of the trip has not been set yet, but Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian is expected to travel to Beirut in June.

Le Drian is set to follow up on Beirut’s reform commitments to the CEDRE conference that was held in Paris in 2018.

Among these reforms was drafting a comprehensive reform plan to tackle Lebanon’s electricity sector. Earlier this month, the government approved the plan that aims to boost generation capacity while reducing state subsidies that have led to one of the world’s heaviest public debt burdens.

A diplomatic source told Asharq Al-Awsat that Le Drian will hold frank talks with Lebanese officials on the CEDRE pledges.

The US sanctions on Iran will also figure in his discussions. Diplomatic information from Beirut revealed that Macron had urged his American counterpart, Donald Trump, to “take into consideration” the situation in Lebanon in regards to the sanctions.

Macron warned that the sanctions may have a “counter-effect and force Lebanese political forces that are opposed to Hezbollah to shift stances and support the party” to confront the sanctions and their impact on the country.

He stressed the need to take into account the “uniqueness and diversity of Lebanese society and approach its problems with diligence.”

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Arab World

Trump Says Netanyahu Could Use ‘Softer Touch’ in Lebanon

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a news conference in Jerusalem on June 15, 2026. (AFP)
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a news conference in Jerusalem on June 15, 2026. (AFP)
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Trump Says Netanyahu Could Use ‘Softer Touch’ in Lebanon

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a news conference in Jerusalem on June 15, 2026. (AFP)
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a news conference in Jerusalem on June 15, 2026. (AFP)

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could use a "softer touch" in Lebanon in comments ‌made at the ‌close of ‌a G7 ⁠summit in France.

Netanyahu ⁠and Trump have repeatedly clashed over Israel's refusal to constrain its pursuit of Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, where a cessation ⁠of hostilities is a ‌key ‌Iranian demand.

"Netanyahu happens to be a ‌good man, gets a ‌little excited sometimes," Trump told reporters on Wednesday.

"We have a little dispute over Lebanon. I ‌say you can do a little softer touch, ⁠Bibi. ⁠You don't have to knock down a building every time somebody walks into it that's from Hezbollah."

Trump added that he agreed with the description of Israel as being "the very small partner" of the United States.

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".