Macron and Aoun discuss efforts to back Lebanon’s army, end Israeli attacks

The French presidency said the aim of the Paris talks was to review a Lebanese armed forces deployment plan.The leaders of France, Lebanon and Jordan convened in Paris to drum up international support for the Lebanese army.Macron welcomed Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and King Abdullah II of Jordan to Paris for the talks on Thursday.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Lebanon security talks in Paris to focus on post-UNIFIL alternativeslist 2 of 4Israel bombs southern Lebanon as talks postponedlist 3 of 4How Israel’s destruction of south Lebanon is making displacement permanentlist 4 of 4US set to approve 60,000 heavy bombs for Israel: What that meansend of listThe meetings come after a US-mediated framework deal was agreed between Israel and Lebanon in June. But the agreement did not force Israel to withdraw from the large area of southern Lebanon it occupies, and Israel has continued its attacks on the country.The agenda also included the creation of a new force to succeed a longstanding United Nations peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon.The officials were later joined by chiefs of defence staff from Lebanon, Jordan, France, the United Kingdom and Italy, as well as top US and Saudi officials, a French military source told the AFP news agency.Macron said that the talks aimed to “strengthen Lebanon’s sovereignty and enable it to fully ensure its security”.“A sovereign and stable Lebanon is a decisive step toward peace and stability for the entire region,” Macron wrote in a statement on X.“We support the Lebanese Armed Forces, which are indispensable for asserting the authority of the Lebanese state across its entire territory,” he added.The French presidency said the aim of the Paris talks was to review a Lebanese armed forces deployment plan based on a “clear, credible and realistic” framework.Paris said it wanted this as a prerequisite for what it hopes will be “robust” international support, whether in the form of financial assistance, equipment or training.Earlier in the day, Aoun and Macron also discussed “efforts to put an end to Israeli attacks in light of the Lebanese-American-Israeli negotiations and the ‘framework agreement’”, according to the Lebanese presidency.