(17 Jan 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Beirut, Lebanon – 17 January 2025
1. French President Emmanuel Macron and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun shaking hands
2. Wide of news briefing
3. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Joseph Aoun, Lebanese President:
"Mr President, we ask one thing only, and that is for the whole word to witness the Lebanese people’s confidence in their country restored and the world’s confidence in Lebanon should be also restored because the real Lebanon has come back and you and the rest of our friends in the world can handle it."
4. Mid of news briefing
5. SOUNDBITE (French) Emmanuel Macron, French President:
"Yes we will support you in this moment. We will first support your goal of a sovereign Lebanon, and a state able to be sovereign everywhere over its territory. This is the condition for preserving Lebanon from various interference and aggression, while the region is going through deep transformation, it is also a condition to make the ceasefire agreed with Israel sustainable."
6. Mid of news briefing
7. SOUNDBITE (French) Emmanuel Macron, French President:
"I was able to review the situation with French and American commanders. Results have been obtained. An initial Israeli retreat in the west but it has to be accelerated and confirmed in the future. We need a total withdrawal of Israeli forces and a total monopoly for the Lebanese army of weapons. That is why we support the increase of power of the Lebanese army and their deployment in the south of the country."
8. Macron and Aoun shaking hands and leaving news briefing
STORYLINE:
French President Emmanuel Macron met Friday with Lebanon’s newly elected President Joseph Aoun and vowed to support the small nation as it tries to recover from a historic economic crisis and the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war.
Macron, who has been critical of Lebanon’s leadership in the past, said during a joint news conference with Aoun that France will be supporting Lebanon.
"We will first support your goal of a sovereign Lebanon, and a state able to be sovereign everywhere over its territory," said Macron.
Aoun asked Macron to be a witness that the confidence of the Lebanese people in their country and state has been restored. “The world’s confidence in Lebanon should be also restored," he said.
Macron’s trip to Lebanon, his first in more than four years, follows a 60-day ceasefire deal that went into effect Nov. 27 between Israel and Hezbollah that aims to end their war. France helped broker the deal and a French officer is a member of the committee supervising the truce.
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