President Joseph Aoun, presiding over a meeting of representatives from the Quintet in Baabda, on Jan. 14, 2026. (Credit: X/@LBPresidency)
BEIRUT — An international conference to support the Lebanese Army and Internal Security Forces will be held on March 5 in Paris, the presidency announced after a meeting at the Baabda Presidential Palace with ambassadors and envoys from the Quintet.
The meeting included French envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian and adviser to the Saudi foreign minister, Yazid bin Farhan.
In a post on X, the presidential palace said representatives of the five Quintet countries — France, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar and the United States — discussed preparations for the conference. It said the gathering would be inaugurated by French President Emmanuel Macron.
After a meeting in Paris in mid-December, officials had initially suggested the fundraising conference would take place in February.
Also attending the Baabda meeting were U.S. Ambassador Michel Issa; Qatar’s assistant foreign minister, Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Al Thani; and the ambassadors of Saudi Arabia, Walid Boukhari; France, Herve Magro; Qatar, Saud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani; and Egypt, Alaa Moussa.
Full army deployment
Lebanon is seeking increased financial and material support for the army to allow it to complete its deployment in the South, where it began mobilizing following the November 2024 cease-fire.
The army recently announced it had dismantled Hezbollah’s arsenal south of the Litani River as part of its first phase of establishing the state's monopoly on arms. The military also faces the challenge of reinforcing positions along Lebanon’s porous border with Syria.
When the end of the first phase of disarming armed groups was announced, President Joseph Aoun, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam all appealed for additional international assistance.
Aoun-Gemayel meeting
Regarding the conference, Kataeb Party leader and MP Sami Gemayel said, after a meeting with Joseph Aoun, that it would help strengthen the army's capabilities, as disarming north of the Litani River is an "important test for the state and for Hezbollah in terms of the extent of its cooperation."
According to Gemayel, phase two of the disarmament plan which comprises areas north of the Litani River is also "a test for the army to assess its capacity and the speed with which it can collect the weapons," according to a statement published via the state-run National News Agency (NNA).
The upcoming conference will be the first major fundraising effort for the Lebanese Army and Internal Security Forces since a Paris conference was held in October 2024 amid open fighting between Israel and Hezbollah that raised nearly 1 billion euros.
Last week, Macron reaffirmed France’s commitment to organizing conferences to support the Lebanese Army and Lebanon’s economic recovery.
The Quintet ambassadors also met at the Résidence des Pins following their meeting with Aoun.
According to an informed source, they may hold another meeting in Doha ahead of the Paris conference. Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron’s envoy for Lebanon’s reforms, Jacques de Lajugie, could hold talks with officials in Beirut in the coming two weeks.
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