
The French Minister of Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu (left), during a meeting with the caretaker Lebanese Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, on Nov. 3, 2023, at the Grand Serail in Beirut. (Credit: Mohamed Azakir/Reuters)
BEIRUT — Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati held talks at the Grand Serail on Friday morning with French Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu, who is on an official visit to Lebanon, as the war between Hamas and Israel in Gaza enters its 28th day.
During the meeting, Lecornu stressed "the importance of all parties in south Lebanon showing wisdom and not pushing the situation in south Lebanon towards escalation and deterioration," according to a statement issued by Lebanon's caretaker government.
The minister also spoke of "the close cooperation between the army and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon [UNIFIL], the revitalized role of the Blue Helmets and the need to preserve calm along the Blue Line," the statement added.
Lecornu also indicated, according to the Lebanese government, that France has decided to send "urgent aid to the Lebanese Army, including medical equipment and medicines."
The French minister went on to call for "the hostage situation [in the hands of Hamas] in Gaza to be resolved as quickly as possible, and for a definitive solution to be found to the Palestinian cause," the text continued.
During a tour of southern Lebanon on Thursday, where he met with the French UNIFIL contingent, Lecornu remarked that Lebanon had "no need of a war" with Israel, warning against the risk of escalation in the region.
Fears of a regional conflagration arising out of the war between Israel and Hamas, which was triggered by the Palestinian movement's unprecedented attack on Israel on Oct. 7, have been heightened by rising tensions on the Lebanon-Israel border. The border is the scene of exchanges of fire between the Israeli army on the one side, and Hezbollah and its allies, who support Hamas, on the other. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is due to deliver a much-anticipated speech at 3 p.m. on Friday. It will be his first since the start of the war.