Nawaf Salam to meet Macron Thursday in Paris

BEIRUT — Prime Minister Nawaf Salam will meet French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Thursday, a day after G7 leaders expressed support for Lebanon, according to a Lebanese government source and a diplomatic source.

The meeting will also take place on the eve of the official signing of an agreement between Iran and the United States aimed at ending the war on all fronts, including Lebanon, and days before Beirut and Tel Aviv resume bilateral negotiations in Washington on Monday, a process from which France is excluded.

The G7, including the United States, met on Wednesday in Evian, France, and released a joint statement that they support an "immediate robust" cease-fire in Lebanon, and highlighted "the Lebanese leadership’s efforts to achieve the disarmament of Hezbollah and the monopoly of arms, and to protect Lebanon’s territorial integrity and sovereignty with the appropriate international security guarantees."

According to a diplomatic source at the G7, Macron and Salam will discuss in Paris the "implementation of this G7 statement." The source added that their position sends Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the message that he "must stop" his attacks on Lebanon.

The Israeli army continues to attack south Lebanon and the Bekaa despite the cease-fire that is supposed to take effect under the agreement between Tehran and Washington. Israeli forces are also advancing on several fronts inside Lebanese territory, particularly toward the major cities of Sour and Nabatieh and in the central sector of the border strip.