French President to Host New International Conference on Lebanon

By Staff, Agencies

French President Emmanuel Macron will host a new international conference on Lebanon next month on the first anniversary of the Beirut Port explosion, after premier designate Saad Hariri gave up trying to form a government, the Foreign Ministry announced Friday.

Macron will organize the conference on August 4 with the help of the United Nations, "to respond to the needs of the Lebanese whose situation is deteriorating every day," it said in a statement.

He had in August 2020 hosted a first aid conference in the wake of the deadly August 4 Beirut port explosion that shattered the Lebanese capital, rallying some 250 million euros in pledges.

But France and Macron have repeatedly expressed exasperation over the failure of Lebanon's leaders to end a political and economic crisis that dates back to well before the explosion.