French presidential envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian continued his meetings with Lebanese officials on Tuesday over consolidating the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
Le Drian held talks on Monday with President Joseph Aoun and parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji, Army Commander Rodolphe Haykal and former Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt and his son MP Taymur Jumblatt on Tuesday.
Aoun told Le Drian that Lebanon welcomes any role France can play within the Mechanism committee overseeing the ceasefire, rejecting accusations that the Lebanese army was not doing enough to meet its end of the agreement.
The committee aims to end the hostilities, ensure Israel’s withdrawal from regions it is occupying in southern Lebanon and release Lebanese detainees held by Israel.
A Lebanese presidency statement said Aoun welcomed French President Emmanuel’s constant support for Lebanon, stressing that they reflect the depth of Lebanese-French ties.
Aoun revealed to Le Drian that the Mechanism will meet again on December 19.
“Our desire to activate the Mechanism meetings reflects our willingness to negotiate to reach diplomatic solutions because we never want to adopt war rhetoric,” Aoun added.
Lebanese and Israeli civilian representatives held their first direct talks in decades last week under the auspices of a year-old ceasefire monitoring mechanism.
The two sides met at the UN peacekeeping force's headquarters in Lebanon's Naqoura near the border with Israel, where the guarantors of the November 2024 ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah regularly convene.
Former Lebanese ambassador to the US Simon Karam and Israeli National Security Council official Uri Resnick were included as civilian representatives in the ceasefire mechanism for the first time.
Aoun told Le Drian that “the positive stances from fraternal and friendly states that followed last week’s meeting reflect their support for this step and will inevitably ease the pressure” that Lebanon was under.
He reiterated his rejection of criticism that the army was not doing enough to enforce the ceasefire agreement.
He instead accused Israel of continuing its attacks against Lebanon in violation of the ceasefire. He said it has destroyed homes and properties, preventing the army, United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and Mechanism from completing their duties.
He stressed that the army and UNIFIL were acting in complete coordination, while urging the need to provide the military with the necessary equipment to allow it to fulfill its mission in full.
The mission, he remarked, is not limited to regions south of the Litani River, but includes all of Lebanon.
Le Drian, for his part, conveyed to Aoun Macron’s support for Karam’s appointment to the Lebanon’s negotiating team, adding that Paris “will always stand by Beirut’s national choices.”
Talks between Berri and the envoy, which lasted over an hour, tackled the situation in Lebanon and the region, especially Israel’s ongoing violations of the ceasefire.
Paris is set to hold next week a meeting between France, the United States and Saudi Arabia in preparation for a conference aimed at backing the Lebanese army and support a roadmap for a long-term ceasefire.
