US and Israel reject French civilian participation at ‘Mechanism’ meeting

BEIRUT — At the latest meeting of the cease-fire supervisory committee in Naqoura, South Lebanon, on Dec. 19, the Israeli and American delegations refused to allow France to be represented by a French diplomat, in addition to its military representative.

This information, originally reported by the media outlet al-Monitor, was confirmed to our newspaper by a diplomatic source familiar with the matter.

According to our information, Paris wanted to add a civilian to the meeting, after Lebanese and Israeli diplomats joined the mechanism as of Dec. 3, but Israel and the United States, represented by a U.S. army general and envoy Morgan Ortagus, opposed the idea.

Al-Monitor reported that Israeli representatives threatened not to participate in the meeting if a French diplomat attended. An American official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the refusal was justified by the fact that "neither Israel nor Lebanon accepted a multilateral format.

They agreed to direct talks" — at the diplomatic rather than military level — "only in the presence of the United States."

This source confirmed to the Israeli daily Haaretz that the only person representing France at the meeting was thus the French general assigned to the mechanism, who has already attended several of its meetings.

The Dec. 19 meeting in Naqoura was the second under the new format including Israeli and Lebanese diplomats. The supervisory committee focused in particular on the "economic priorities" for both countries, as well as issues of military "cooperation" and reconstruction.

The civilian participants — in other words, Lebanese diplomat Simon Karam, Ortagus, and Israeli National Security Council Deputy Chief Yossi Dreznin — discussed "the conditions enabling residents to return to their homes safely, the continuation of reconstruction, and addressing economic priorities."

According to the U.S. embassy, it was emphasized during the talks, the first direct talks between the two countries in decades, that "sustained political and economic progress is essential to strengthen security gains and maintain lasting peace." The next mechanism meeting will take place on Jan. 7, 2026.

The talks in Naqoura came a day after a meeting in Paris attended by Army Commander-in-Chief Rodolphe Haykal, Ortagus and Saudi envoy Yazid bin Farhan, during which a conference of support for the Lebanese Army was announced.