Le Pen in Lebanon, Urges Cooperation to Combat Extremism

Local Editor

The far-right French leader Marine Le Pen arrived in Beirut Sunday evening for talks with senior Lebanese officials.

On Monday, Le Pen held talks with President Michel Aoun at the Presidential Palace in Baabda regarding the country's refugee crisis and means of cooperation to combat extremism.

"Discussions with President Aoun focused on the issue of refugees which constitutes a burden on Lebanon," VDL [93.3] quoted Le Pen as saying.

She also stressed the "importance of cooperation between Lebanon and France to combat extremism."

Le Pen's visit to Baabda Palace marked her first official one-on-one meeting with a head of state, and was her first of several scheduled meetings with senior Lebanese officials.

Le Pen and Aoun also discussed the lingering Syrian refugee crisis in Lebanon.

There are 1.01 million Syrian refugees officially registered with the UNHCR in Lebanon, but the Lebanese government estimates the number to be much higher.

Le Pen later headed to the Grand Serail to meet with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri.

A leading candidate in the French polls, Le Pen is running for president on an anti-immigrant and anti-European Union [EU] platform that critics said is a cover for Islamophobia and xenophobia.

Le Pen will also meet with Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai and others.

The National Front leader is hoping to burnish her credentials as a defender of Christians in the Middle East, ahead of France's April 23 presidential elections.

Le Pen's visit comes a month after French Presidential hopeful Emmanuel Macron visited Lebanon.

Upon her arrival in Lebanon, media reports quoted Le Pen as saying: "This is my first visit to Lebanon ...Our relations need to be strengthened significantly."

Macron, 39, is running as an independent in France's April presidential election. A former investment banker, he served as economy minister under President Francois Hollande's Socialist government.

But Macron quit the post last August after launching his own centrist party, En Marche [On the Move], and is garnering growing support despite being a relative political newcomer. He is third in the polls behind Le Pen and the Les Republicains nominee Francois Fillon.

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Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team