ABU DHABI: France’s defense minister said Lebanon’s armed forces need more support as he completed a Gulf tour on Tuesday, saying they will be crucial for securing border areas after Israel’s war with Hezbollah.
As efforts toward a ceasefire increase, Sebastien Lecornu told AFP that he had raised the prospect of “operational support” for the Lebanese armed forces during his trip.
“I have reiterated to each counterpart that we need them to support the Lebanese armed forces,” he said after visits to Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
“Both in the central role they play in welfare matters, and in the security aspect. We will have to think about more operational support on the military side.”
Lecornu was speaking in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi before meeting President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed at the end of his three-country tour.
Diplomatic efforts are intensifying to secure a ceasefire based on United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel.
The resolution called for the deployment of Lebanese government forces and United Nations peacekeeping force UNIFIL in areas south of Lebanon’s Litani River near the Israeli border, as well as the withdrawal of Israeli forces.
“There isn’t a better solution at this stage than to respect Resolution 1701 and to support the Lebanese armed forces,” Lecornu said.
But “to secure the border between Israel and Lebanon, and to reinforce Lebanon’s sovereignty, the armed forces must be properly armed,” he added.
The Lebanese army is envisioned as having a greater role in maintaining stability along the border in the event of a ceasefire, though it currently struggles to meet the basic needs of its 80,000 soldiers.
It has previously received financial assistance from Qatar and the United States to pay salaries.
Last month, a conference in Paris raised $200 million to support the Lebanese armed forces, on top of $800 million in humanitarian aid for the country.
Israel expanded the focus of its operations from Gaza to Lebanon in late September, vowing to secure its northern border to allow tens of thousands of people displaced by cross-border fire to return home.
Since the clashes began with Hezbollah attacks on Israel, more than 3,510 people in Lebanon have been killed, according to authorities there, with most fatalities recorded since late September.
The Lebanese government says it is ready to deploy the army to the border to safeguard a ceasefire, and plans to recruit 1,500 more soldiers.
Prime Minister Najib Mikati said last month that 4,500 military personnel were in the south and that he wanted to raise their number to 7,000-11,000.
Lecornu’s tour also comes two weeks before French President Emmanuel Macron arrives in Saudi Arabia for a visit focused on defense and investment in new technologies.
French minister on Gulf tour says Lebanon’s army needs support
https://arab.news/6vgwe
French minister on Gulf tour says Lebanon’s army needs support
- “I have reiterated to each counterpart that we need them to support the Lebanese armed forces,” Sebastien Lecornu said
- “We will have to think about more operational support on the military side“
Deal with Iran ‘Unimaginable,’ Pompeo tells WGS in Dubai
- UAE’s Gargash says he would like to see direct US negotiations with Tehran
DUBAI: Former US secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, told the World Government Summit in Dubai on Monday that he believed a deal between Iran and the United States was “unimaginable” under the current Ayatollah regime believing US strikes on the nation were still a possibility despite the apparent deescalation of the last few days.
“It's unimaginable that there could be a deal. To me, we've had a deal with Iranians multiple times,” he told a panel in Dubai on Tuesday.
“They have cheated and lied and avoided compliance with every deal they've signed.”
Pompeo was central to the US decision to leave the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal when he served as secretary during Donald Trumps first term. According to the US department of Justice, the Islamic Republic subsequently placed a $1 million bounty on his head.
Trump has in previous days said the US was seeking to srike a deal with Iran whilst simultanously ordering a large scale militray build up in the region. Pompeo said that he believed the US president could use military strikes – or at least the threat of them – to increase leverage on the regime to give up its enrichment and missiles fully, although he remained cynical of anything being achieved without regime change.
“To think that there's a long-term solution that actually provides stability and peace to this region while the Ayatollah was still in power, is something I pray for, but find unimaginable,” Pompeo said.
On Syria, Pompeo expressed cautious optimism that the interim president Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa will succeed in rebuilding his country with a lasting peace.
Al-Sharaa has previously said he was focused on consolidating power, rebuilding state institutions, integrating military factions, and restoring Syria's international relations, including with the United States, Russia, and regional powers.
Pompeo said he maintained a level of mistrust in the Syrian president – most notably due to his involvement with Al-Qaeda - but added that he hoped Al-Sharaa would do well.
“I have known of Mr. Sharaa for a long time, when I was a CIA director… we had a $10m bounty on his head. He was an Al Qaeda terrorist,” he said.
“It is important for the region to get stability in Syria and so I am rooting for him…. I hope we all do our part to help him be more successful at bringing a very fractured nation back together so that.”
He said he hoped the up to seven million people who had fled the country as refugees could one day return to their homes.
“But it is a very difficult task for anyone and someone with the history that he has, I think it makes it even more complicated for him to be successful. But he’s the leader today and we all should hope that he is able to pull off what It is he has stated his intentions are.”
Pompeo was joined on stage by former UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Anwar Gargash, who was more hopeful of a diplomatic solution to the Iranian crisis; saying the region stood firm against escalation and further prolonged military conflict.
Gargash believed that it was in the best interest of Iran to strike a deal with the US that would open the pathway to it resolving its multitude of crises.
“I think that the region has gone through various various calamitous confrontations. I don't think we need another one,” he told the summit.
“I would like to see direct Iranian American negotiations leading to understandings so that we don't have these issues every other day.”
Speaking more broadly on regional security, Gargash said resolving the Palestinian issue was still of utmost importance if the middle east was to secure a prosperous future. He said that the UAE was commiitted to seeing through the Trumps plan but ruled out rumours that the emirates was poised to take over governance of the territory.
“We have to work with the Palestinians. We have to work with the Egyptians, the Israelis, the Jordanians, and of course, American leadership is key, really, for achieving a sort of, I won't say, sustainable solution at this time, but moving on with with the part two of President Trump's plan,” he said.
On the international stage, Gargash said he bvelived the health of the China-US relationship was the biggest hinderence to peace – warning that if not managed properly it would likely lead to increasing comflict around the world. He said it was paramount that the two countries maintained a mature relationship based on competition.
