PARIS: France President Emmanuel Macron will meet Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati and army chief Joseph Aoun on Friday in Paris, the French presidency said.
The announcement on Thursday comes as fears have increased in recent days of a regional escalation in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Lebanon is grappling with a deep economic and political crisis.
That has been compounded by near-daily cross-border fire between Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group and neighboring Israel ever since war erupted on October 7 between Israel and Hamas, a Hezbollah ally.
Hezbollah on Thursday said two of its fighters had been killed as Israel appeared to intensify strikes on south Lebanon following an attack by the Iran-backed group that wounded 14 Israeli soldiers.
Fears of a regional conflict have spiked in recent days after Tehran launched its first ever direct military attack on Israel late Saturday in retaliation for an April 1 air strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus widely blamed on Israel.
Lebanon has been without a president for more than a year after ex-head of state Michel Aoun’s mandate expired, with its feuding factions repeatedly failing in parliament to elect a new leader.
The multi-confessional former French colony is also in the grips of an unprecedented economic crisis.
Mikati has been prime minister since 2021 but leads a caretaker government with limited powers.
Joseph Aoun, no relation to the country’s former president, has good relations with all sides in the country and is sometimes put forward as someone who could lead it out of political deadlock.
Macron has visited the country twice in recent years in a bid to help bring it out of crisis, but then in 2023 assigned the task to former foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.
France’s Macron to meet Lebanon PM in Paris Friday: French presidency
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France’s Macron to meet Lebanon PM in Paris Friday: French presidency
- Lebanon has been without a president for more than a year after ex-head of state Michel Aoun’s mandate expired
- Former French colony is also in the grips of an unprecedented economic crisis
Air India 777 aircraft turns back after drop in engine oil pressure, regulator says
- The aircraft, which was headed to Mumbai, landed safely back in Delhi and the incident will be investigated
- Air India has been under intense scrutiny this year after the June 12 crash of a Boeing Dreamliner killed 260 people
BENGALURU: An Air India Boeing 777 aircraft had to turn back after a drop in oil pressure forced the pilots to turn off one of the jet’s engines, India’s aviation regulator said on Monday.
The aircraft, which was headed to India’s financial capital of Mumbai, landed safely back in Delhi and the incident will be investigated, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said in a statement. Modern aircraft are designed to safely fly and land on a single engine, if required. Air India has been under intense scrutiny this year after the June 12 crash of a Boeing Dreamliner killed 260 people. The DGCA has flagged multiple safety lapses at the airline, which was previously owned by the government till 2022. An Air India investigation into why one of its planes conducted commercial flights without an airworthiness permit found “systemic failures,” with the airline admitting it needed to do better on compliance, Reuters reported earlier this month.
On Monday, pilots observed a low engine oil pressure on the B777-300ER aircraft’s right-hand engine during flaps retraction after take-off. The pressure shortly thereafter dropped to zero and the crew shut down the engine and turned back as per procedure, the DGCA said.
“Air India sincerely regrets inconvenience caused due to this unforeseen situation. The aircraft is undergoing the necessary checks,” an Air India spokesperson said in a statement. The aircraft is 15 years old and has flown to locations such as Vienna, Vancouver and Chicago, according to Flightradar24. Boeing did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the incident.
