French envoy to Lebanon Jean-Yves Le Drian (L) meeting with Lebanon's Foreign Minister Joe Rajji. (Credit: Mohammad Yassin/L'Orient-Le Jour)
BEIRUT — After arriving to Beirut's Rafic Hariri International Airport on Monday afternoon, French President Emmanuel Macron’s special envoy to Lebanon, Jean-Yves Le Drian, met with President Joseph Aoun at the Baabda Presidential Palace, according to the state-run National News Agency (NNA). Following the meeting, Le Drian left Baabda without making a statement.
In a message on X, the presidency stated that Aoun received Le Drian in the presence of French Ambassador Hervé Magro. "Le Drian welcomed the president's decision to appoint Ambassador Simon Karam as head of the negotiating delegation within the mechanism committee," it wrote.
"The meeting also focused on developments on the ground in the south, as well as internal developments and reform-related issues, in addition to preparations for a possible conference in support of the Lebanese Army, scheduled for early next year," the statement added.
The French envoy was then received by Foreign Minister Joe Rajji.
During his last visit in September, Le Drian met with Lebanese leaders and reiterated Macron's commitment to raise funding for Lebanon. In mid-October, Macron stated his "determination" to organize, by the end of 2025, two international conferences, one to support the Lebanese Army and another dedicated to the reconstruction of Lebanon.
Le Drian's visit comes in the context of continued Israeli attacks against Lebanon despite the cease-fire agreement reached in November 2024, following more than 13 months of conflict between Hezbollah and Israel, and amid fears of a new war between the two sides.
On Wednesday, Beirut took a step forward to avoid another war: Aoun, after reaching an agreement with the prime minister and speaker of parliament, announced the appointment of former ambassador Karam as head of the delegation representing Lebanon in the meetings of the cease-fire monitoring committee (known as the Mechanism), which is therefore no longer purely military.
