(Credit: Laurent Selinder/L’Orient-Le Jour)
A month and a half after a cease-fire was reached between Israel and Hezbollah, a few weeks after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime and a few days after Joseph Aoun's election as head of the Lebanese state, Emmanuel Macron granted an exclusive interview to L'Orient-Le Jour from the Élysée.
"The resurgence we are witnessing in Lebanon is incredibly hopeful," the French president said. Expected in Lebanon on Friday, Macron believes that after Joseph Aoun's election as president and the appointment of Nawaf Salam as prime minister, there is "no ambiguity about the fact that the purpose of the cease-fire is for the state to regain its monopoly on legitimate violence," a clear allusion to the agreement providing for Hezbollah's disarmament, including north of the Litani River.
Regarding the party, Macron, who faced some criticism for having supported Sleiman Frangieh's candidacy for the Lebanese presidency, told L'Orient-Le Jour's co-editor-in-chief Anthony Samrani: "I think I can say that France has never played Hezbollah's game."
After extensively revisiting his choices concerning his Lebanese policy, Macron called for the formation of an inclusive government and said that he considers the political crisis in the process of "being resolved."
Lebanon could benefit from international aid for reconstruction that would not be conditioned on the implementation of reforms, he said, "if the situation is stabilized from a security standpoint, and if it is done within a framework of good governance."
Returning to Riyadh's re-involvement in the Lebanese issue, Mr. Macron highlights the work of French diplomacy and believes that "the election of Joseph Aoun and the appointment of Nawaf Salam are also the fruit of this regional diplomatic work."
During this interview, Mr. Macron finally addresses the Syrian dossier and indicates that France will closely observe several points as part of a potential consideration for lifting sanctions: the issue of political inclusiveness, "security interests in the North" and "respect for the Kurds," the hosting of refugees, and finally the issues of chemical weapons and Captagon.