France will hold an international ministerial conference over the crisis in Lebanon on Oct. 24 that will focus on the political situation there and humanitarian aid amid an escalation between Israel and Hezbollah, the foreign ministry said.
The Presidential Palace, Paris © Mena Today
France will hold an international ministerial conference over the crisis in Lebanon on Oct. 24 that will focus on the political situation there and humanitarian aid amid an escalation between Israel and Hezbollah, the foreign ministry said.
"Its objective will be to mobilise the international community to respond to the protection and emergency relief needs of the Lebanese population and to identify ways of supporting Lebanon’s institutions, in particular the Lebanese Armed Forces, which are the guarantors of the country’s internal stability," the ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
Israel has not been invited and it was not clear whether different Lebanese political representatives would be invited.
Paris has historical ties with Lebanon and has been working with the United States in trying to secure a ceasefire in the Middle Eastern country. Those talks stalled at the end of September when Israel heavily bombed Beirut's southern suburbs, killing longtime Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah.
It has since launched a ground offensive displacing thousands of people.
French President Emmanuel Macron is very fond of organizing large international conferences. However, the results are generally mixed or insignificant.
The Israeli military said it had begun targeted strikes in southern Lebanon on Wednesday in response to a "Hezbollah violation", a day after the latest round of U.S.-facilitated talks between Israel and Lebanon took place in Rome.
The latest round of U.S.-facilitated talks between Israel and Lebanon began on Tuesday in Rome and will continue through Thursday, State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said.
Iran is betting it can outlast Washington by turning the Middle East's trade routes, shipping lanes and energy infrastructure into pressure points that steadily raise the cost of confrontation, according to Gulf officials and analysts.
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