French Foreign Ministry Secretary-General Anne-Marie Descôtes met Thursday with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam at the Grand Serail in Beirut. Discussions focused on the challenges facing the government, particularly regarding the issue of Israeli withdrawal from all Lebanese territory, as well as post-conflict reconstruction. Descôtes is also expected to meet with Lebanese Foreign Minister Joe Rajji, according to the state-run National News Agency (NNA).

This visit comes on the heels of the vote of confidence granted by the Lebanese Parliament to the government of Nawaf Salam. After two long sessions, 95 MPs voted Wednesday night to trust the government, 12 voted against, and four abstained. Salam was tasked with forming the government in mid-January, following the election of Joseph Aoun as head of state.

At the end of a devastating war that lasted from October 2023 until the cease-fire that came into effect on Nov. 27, 2024, the Israeli army, after postponing its withdrawal from south Lebanon by more than two weeks, finally left the border villages it still occupied, paving the way for the deployment of the Lebanese army, in accordance with resolution 1701. However, it maintained its presence at five points on the heights inside Lebanese lands, considering them "strategic."