PARIS (Reuters) – France will hold an international ministerial conference over the crisis in Lebanon on Oct. 24 that will focus on the political situation there and humanitarian aid amid an escalation between Israel and Hezbollah, the foreign ministry said.
“Its objective will be to mobilise the international community to respond to the protection and emergency relief needs of the Lebanese population and to identify ways of supporting Lebanon’s institutions, in particular the Lebanese Armed Forces, which are the guarantors of the country’s internal stability,” the ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
Israel has not been invited and it was not clear whether different Lebanese political representatives would be invited.
Paris has historical ties with Lebanon and has been working with the United States in trying to secure a ceasefire in the Middle Eastern country. Those talks stalled at the end of September when Israel heavily bombed Beirut’s southern suburbs, killing longtime Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah.
It has since launched a ground offensive displacing thousands of people.
The foreign ministry said the conference would include regional and international partners of Lebanon, the United Nations as well as civil society partners.
“Faced with a serious and profound political and humanitarian crisis, France will recall through this conference the urgency of a cessation of hostilities and a diplomatic solution,” it said, adding that the appointment of a president should be a first step.
(Reporting by John Irish; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
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