French Envoy Urges 'Third Way' to Break Lebanon Presidency Deadlock

Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati meets with former French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian in Beirut, Lebanon June 22, 2023. (Reuters)
Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati meets with former French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian in Beirut, Lebanon June 22, 2023. (Reuters)
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French Envoy Urges 'Third Way' to Break Lebanon Presidency Deadlock

Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati meets with former French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian in Beirut, Lebanon June 22, 2023. (Reuters)
Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati meets with former French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian in Beirut, Lebanon June 22, 2023. (Reuters)

French President Emmanuel Macron’s special envoy urged Lebanese factions to find a “third way” for electing a new president, warning that France and its allies were losing patience after almost a year of deadlock and now reviewing their financial aid.

“The life of the Lebanese state itself is at risk,” Jean-Yves Le Drian, a former foreign minister, told AFP in an interview.

Lebanon has been without a president for almost a year after ex-head of state Michel Aoun’s mandate expired, with its feuding factions repeatedly failing in parliament to elect a new leader as an unprecedented economic crisis escalates in the multi-confessional former French colony.

Both sides have put forward their own candidate - the former minister Suleiman Franjieh for the pro-Hezbollah faction and the economist Jihad Azour for their opponents - but Le Drian said neither man had any chance of breaking the deadlock.

“Neither side can prevail. Neither solution can work,” Le Drian said.

“It is important that political actors put an end to this unbearable crisis for the Lebanese and try to find a compromise solution through a third way,” he added.

‘Denial of reality’

Le Drian said he planned to go to Lebanon in the next weeks to urge the Lebanese parties to get together for an intense week of talks and then hold votes in parliament and find a new president.

Lebanon’s president is elected by parliament, where neither side has a majority, rather than by universal suffrage.

The situation is further complicated by that in the wake of the accords that ended the civil war, Lebanon’s president is always a Christian, the premier a Sunni and the speaker a Shiite.

Parliament has now failed 12 times to elect a president over the last year.

Faced with what he described as a “denial of reality” from Lebanese officials, France and its allies the United States, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt, are losing patience and could review their financial support for Beirut, he said.

The five countries, whose representatives met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly last week in New York, “are totally united, deeply irritated and questioning the sustainability of their funding to Lebanon while political leaders take pleasure in irresponsibility,” Le Drian fumed.

‘Turnaround possible’

Despite the country’s economic bankruptcy, inflation at more than 200 percent and rampant unemployment, “political leaders are in denial, which leads them to pursue tactical games at the expense of the country’s interests,” he said.

Le Drian, who was named by Macron as his special envoy in early June, has made two visits to the country in his capacity, in June and July. But he has so far failed to make any inroads in breaking the deadlock.

Macron won praise from observers for heading to the Lebanese capital in the immediate aftermath of the August 2020 Beirut port explosion to push Lebanon’s leaders into radical reform. But he now faces pressure to follow up on these promises.

Le Drian declined to put forward any name for a candidate who could break the deadlock, saying that he is only a “mediator” and that it is up to the Lebanese to identify a compromise, which he considers possible.

“I carried out a consultation which shows that the priorities of the actors can easily be forged into a consensus,” he said.

Sanctions against those who block a compromise also remain a possible weapon. “It’s obviously an idea,” he said, while insisting “a turnaround is possible”.



UN Says ‘Deliberate’ Choices ‘Systematically’ Depriving Gazans

04 June 2025, Palestinian Territories, Nusirat: Displaced Palestinians gather in a charity kitchen to receive aid amid a shortage of food, in Nuseirat refugee camp. (Belal Abu Amer/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa)
04 June 2025, Palestinian Territories, Nusirat: Displaced Palestinians gather in a charity kitchen to receive aid amid a shortage of food, in Nuseirat refugee camp. (Belal Abu Amer/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa)
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UN Says ‘Deliberate’ Choices ‘Systematically’ Depriving Gazans

04 June 2025, Palestinian Territories, Nusirat: Displaced Palestinians gather in a charity kitchen to receive aid amid a shortage of food, in Nuseirat refugee camp. (Belal Abu Amer/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa)
04 June 2025, Palestinian Territories, Nusirat: Displaced Palestinians gather in a charity kitchen to receive aid amid a shortage of food, in Nuseirat refugee camp. (Belal Abu Amer/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa)

The UN aid chief said Wednesday that recent "horrifying scenes" of Gazans being killed while seeking food aid were the result of "deliberate choices that have systematically deprived" them of essentials to survive.

A US and Israeli-backed group operating aid sites in the Gaza Strip announced the temporary closure of its facilities on Wednesday, with the Israeli army warning that roads leading to distribution centers were "considered combat zones".

The announcement by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation follows a string of deadly incidents near the distribution sites it operates.

On Tuesday, 27 people were killed in southern Gaza when Israeli troops opened fire near a GHF aid site, with the military saying the incident was under investigation.

"The world is watching, day after day, horrifying scenes of Palestinians being shot, wounded or killed in Gaza while simply trying to eat," UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said in a statement.

"Emergency medical teams have confirmed treating hundreds of trauma cases. Yesterday alone, dozens were declared dead at hospitals after Israeli forces said they had opened fire.

"This is the outcome of a series of deliberate choices that have systematically deprived two million people of the essentials they need to survive."

He echoed the call by UN chief Antonio Guterres for immediate independent investigations, saying they were not isolated incidents, and the perpetrators must be held accountable.

"No-one should have to risk their life to feed their children," said Fletcher.

The GHF began operations a week ago, but the UN and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with it over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives.

Meanwhile the United Nations has described the amount of aid allowed into Gaza, after Israel partially lifted a more than two-month total blockade, as a trickle.

"We must be allowed to do our jobs: we have the teams, the plan, the supplies and the experience," said Fletcher, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator.

"Open the crossings -- all of them. Let in life-saving aid at scale, from all directions. Lift the restrictions on what and how much aid we can bring in.

"Ensure our convoys aren't held up by delays and denials. Release the hostages. Implement the ceasefire."