{"id":61070,"date":"2025-04-29T20:09:16","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T20:09:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/61070\/"},"modified":"2025-04-29T20:09:16","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T20:09:16","slug":"france-says-lebanon-must-fully-regain-its-sovereignty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/61070\/","title":{"rendered":"France says Lebanon must fully regain its sovereignty"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Tuesday, France urged Lebanon to restore its full sovereignty and called on Israel to withdraw its forces from Lebanese land. <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Speaking before the UN Security Council, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot urged\u00a0Israeli troops still present<\/a>\u00a0in the southern part of Lebanon to withdraw and allow the Lebanese Armed Forces to be posted in the area, News.Az<\/a> reports citing The National.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s up to them [Lebanese Armed Forces] to ensure the security and sovereignty of the state, assisted by Unifil and the oversight mechanism that France is involved in, alongside the US and which includes the UN,\u201d Mr Barrot stressed, referring to the\u00a0UN Interim Force in Lebanon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Under the November 27\u00a0ceasefire agreement<\/a>\u00a0between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, Israeli troops were required to withdraw from southern Lebanon by January 26. The deal stipulated that both Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters would pull back, allowing the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers to take control of the region.<\/p>\n

Per the terms of the agreement, both Israeli troops and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah were required to pull back from southern Lebanon, clearing the way for the posting of the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers.<\/p>\n

Yet\u00a0Israeli troops remain stationed<\/a>\u00a0in several Lebanese villages, defying the January 26 withdrawal deadline and maintaining a presence that Beirut and international mediators continue to challenge.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s deputy ambassador to the UN Jonathan Miller said the Lebanese government must have a \u201cmonopoly on military force\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is the Israeli position. That is the Lebanese position. That is the position of our cessation of hostilities agreement,\u201d he said. \u201cThe international community must take tangible steps to assist the Lebanese government and armed forces in reclaiming its sovereignty and dismantling\u00a0Hezbollah<\/a>‘s parallel army of terrorists.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Miller\u2019s remarks underscored Israel\u2019s long-standing demand for Lebanon to curb the influence of Hezbollah, which wields significant military power independent of the state.<\/p>\n

He also raised concerns about Syria, warning of a \u201cdeeply troubling pattern\u201d of those with \u201cjihadist backgrounds\u201d being appointed to key positions within the provisional government and affiliated armed groups.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese groups\u2019 ideologies are clear and cause for serious alarm,\u201d he said. \u201cAs is too often the case in times of collapse, Syria’s most vulnerable \u2013 its minorities, internally displaced,\u00a0religious and ethnic communities<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 are the ones left exposed: Christians, Druze, Kurds, Yazidis, all caught between a shattered state and roaming militias.\u201d<\/p>\n

Syrian authorities have been seeking to persuade western states that the extremist origins of the forces who toppled former president Bashar Al Assad are confined to the past.<\/p>\n

Foreign Minister\u00a0Assad Shaibani<\/a>\u00a0dismissed Israel\u2019s warnings about the treatment of minorities in Syria, saying the minority groups as well as Damascus reject foreign interference.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey refuse to be used in the media campaigns of Israel that seek to divide Syria and keep it fragile and unstable,\u201d Mr Shaibani told council members. \u201cEven Syrian Jews, whom we have met repeatedly, reject such plans and such policies.\u201d<\/p>\n

News.Az<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Tuesday, France urged Lebanon to restore its full sovereignty and called on Israel to withdraw its forces…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61071,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[2000,299,36,837,838,31619],"class_list":{"0":"post-61070","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-france","11":"tag-israel","12":"tag-lebanon","13":"tag-sovereignty"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114423068311190176","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61070"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61070\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}