President Joseph Aoun welcoming his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, Jan. 17, 2025, in Beirut. (Credit: Anwar Amro/AFP)
France, Lebanon’s “tender mother” is nowhere to be seen. Talks between Lebanon and Israel for which a preparatory meeting was held Tuesday under U.S. auspices, are taking place without France — a notable absence. This is a shift compared to 2024, and even more so to 2006.At the time, Paris, alongside Washington, had helped draft U.N. Resolution 1701, which brought an end to the devastating conflict in Lebanon on Aug. 14, 2006.The same resolution later served as the framework for the cease-fire agreement between Hezbollah and Israel that came into force on Nov. 27, 2024. That agreement was announced by then U.S. President Joe Biden, followed by his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron.Paris also sat on the cease-fire monitoring “mechanism” set up in the aftermath, though its work had largely stalled even before the current conflict. But...
France, Lebanon’s “tender mother” is nowhere to be seen. Talks between Lebanon and Israel for which a preparatory meeting was held Tuesday under U.S. auspices, are taking place without France — a notable absence. This is a shift compared to 2024, and even more so to 2006.At the time, Paris, alongside Washington, had helped draft U.N. Resolution 1701, which brought an end to the devastating conflict in Lebanon on Aug. 14, 2006.The same resolution later served as the framework for the cease-fire agreement between Hezbollah and Israel that came into force on Nov. 27, 2024. That agreement was announced by then U.S. President Joe Biden, followed by his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron.Paris also sat on the cease-fire monitoring “mechanism” set up in the aftermath, though its work had largely stalled even before the current...
