Aoun calls for truce as French minister visits Lebanon and Israel
President Joseph Aoun said a proposed framework to halt fighting between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah was "still on the table", as he hosted French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot on Thursday.
Lebanon was pulled into the regional war on March 2, when Hezbollah fired rockets toward neighboring Israel in response to the killing of its ally Iran's supreme leader in Israeli-U.S. attacks.
Israel responded with heavy airstrikes across Lebanon and ground incursions in the border area, which combined have left more than 1,000 people dead.
On the Israeli side, two soldiers were killed in fighting in southern Lebanon, according to the military.
Meeting Barrot on Thursday, Aoun stressed "the necessity of a ceasefire, and to provide the necessary guarantees for its success by the parties concerned", according to a presidency statement.
On March 9, Aoun proposed a four-point initiative that called for "a full truce" with Israel, increased support to the Lebanese Army in order to "disarm Hezbollah" and "direct negotiations" with Israel.
The president told Barrot that "the negotiating initiative... is still on the table, but the continued military escalation is hindering its launch", the statement said.
"What is important is to stop the escalation" between Hezbollah and Israel, Aoun added.
According to the French foreign ministry, Barrot's snap visit was a sign of "solidarity with the Lebanese people, who have been dragged into a war they did not choose".
The French minister met with other top officials and visited a school near Beirut that had been turned into a shelter for people displaced by the war.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who spoke with Lebanese leaders last week, expressed his hope on Thursday that Israel would agree to direct talks with Beirut.
"The matter of direct negotiations requires that the delegations be finalized and that consent be formally expressed by the Israeli side," he told reporters in Brussels after a European summit.
Macron, whose government supported a 2024 ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, offered to host talks in Paris.
He ruled out any proposal that would see Lebanon formally recognizing Israel, after U.S. news website Axios had reported that a draft French text called for it.
After Lebanon, Paris said Barrot would visit Israel on Friday, his first trip there since France recognized the State of Palestine last year, angering the Israeli government.
Barrot "will hold talks with the Israeli authorities to discuss the security situation, humanitarian issues, and prospects for de-escalation", according to the foreign ministry.
Source: Agence France Presse
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