France Wants More US Realism in Dealing with Hezbollah

By Staff, Agencies

The United States under new President Joe Biden needs to adopt a more realistic attitude towards the Lebanese Resistance movement Hezbollah to help break the political and economic impasse in Lebanon, a French presidential official said on Tuesday.

French President Emmanuel Macron has been spearheading international efforts to rescue Lebanon, once a French protectorate, from its deepest crisis since its civil war.

He has travelled twice to Lebanon since a huge explosion at the Beirut port in August devastated swathes of the capital, but no progress has been made to form a credible interim government.

While former US president Donald Trump’s administration backed Macron’s initiative, it opposed efforts to include Hezbollah that wields enormous power in Lebanon and which Washington brands a “terrorist” group.

“There is urgency in Lebanon and we think that there are priorities that we [France and the United States] can pursue together,” the French official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity, saying Macron’s first priority was putting together a viable Lebanese government.

“We don’t expect a change in American attitude towards Hezbollah, but more American realism on what is possible or not given the circumstances in Lebanon,” he said, without elaborating on what Paris wanted Washington to do.

It remains unclear how Biden’s administration might tackle Lebanon.

The French presidency official said there were no immediate plans to reschedule a trip by Macron to Lebanon after he put off a visit in December when he contracted COVID-19.