Protecting Lebanon and its stability is a French priority

French President Emmanuel Macron’s actions towards Lebanon and Prime Minister Saad Hariri are important, beautiful and very valuable. This is because it is a political act stemming from both heart and reason, and is in a French historic policy that is on-going and continuously stresses the exceptional French-Lebanese relationship.

It has always been said that France is a “nurturing mother” because it has embraced Christians, especially the Maronites. However, France has proven, throughout its various phases and throughout the various leaders that ruled the country, that it is concerned with Lebanon as a complete entity and that its political and economic stability is a main part of France’s strategy in the Middle East. Therefore, it has always aided Lebanon and stood by its side in order to help it stand on its feet and be strong by means of political action, as is evidenced by the Paris Economic Conferences.

There is no doubt that the great French support for Lebanon is achieved in agreement with the European Union countries and the United States, putting Lebanon under a “tent” to shelter it from the waves of large-scale systematic terrorist acts. It also prevents the occurrence of widespread displacement operations, such as those occurring in Syria and Iraq. While the details of the policy protecting Lebanon from civil and internal wars are still unknown, time will reveal them and thanks will be given because Lebanon was standing on the verge of a “belt” of uncovered and hidden bombs.

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As a confirmation of all of this, an informed diplomatic source revealed, after Macron’s exceptional warm and personal political meeting with Hariri and his family that the French policy in the Middle East is built on two pillars:

First, France’s top concern is to achieve stability in the Middle East. There is no need to explain this because for decades, especially during the rule of President Jacques Chirac, the stability of the southern banks of the Mediterranean Sea has been crucial, and all efforts were made to achieve this, especially during the time Daesh went from the southern banks to the northern European banks of the Mediterranean.

Secondly, France is working to dismantle all the crises in the region, as for how this reflects on Lebanon, the senior French source said: “Our goal for Lebanon is to protect it from the many and complicated crises in the region.” Therefore, France is working on resolving several crises, mainly the Syrian crisis. This was stressed by Macron when he said: “France is very active and in contact with all parties and forces, including the right-wing.”

With regard to Lebanon, Macron noted that “the international community interested in Lebanon is waiting for a sign from France to meet and approve everything that contributes to rescuing Lebanon from its crises.”

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The exceptional official French interest in Lebanon, through working to ensure its security and stability, is not only based on the historical relations between the two countries, but “because Lebanon is very valuable in the balances of power in all the region’s issues”. Therefore, France supports the continuation of the nuclear deal with Iran, but discusses other Middle Eastern issues with it.

While speaking to the French diplomatic source, it was obvious “he was avoiding talking about any discussions with Israel regarding Hezbollah. He did mention that France is speaking directly to the US about this because France is concerned with preserving Lebanon’s stability.” It is no secret that the US controls the Israeli decision in this regard and therefore there is no need to directly speak to Israel as long as the issue will go back to Washington.

France’s efforts to protect and ensure the stability of Lebanon are very important, but it is not enough if the Lebanese people do not unite and act in accordance with a solid foundation, based on the concept of “Lebanon first”.

This article first appeared in Arabic in Arabi21 on 22 November 2017

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.