International support will be needed to shore up and expand Lebanon’s army and rebuild the country’s destroyed infrastructure, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati told at a Paris conference convened amid Israel’s assault on the country, Reuters reports.
Mikati said the Lebanese government had decided to recruit more troops and could deploy 8,000 soldiers as part of a plan to implement a ceasefire and UN Security Council resolution, which calls for the army to be deployed in southern Lebanon.
At the summit, French President Emmanuel Macron reiterated his call for a ceasefire in Lebanon, criticising Israel’s operations in the south of the country.
World powers are meeting in Paris today aiming to raise at least €500 million ($540 million) in urgent humanitarian aid for Lebanon and push for a ceasefire, but with the US focused on its own efforts, diplomats said they expect little concrete progress.
Paris hastily arranged the conference as a means to show it still has clout in its former protectorate, but while 70 delegations and 15 international organisations are represented, few major ministers are attending.
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France’s special envoy to Lebanon Jean-Yves Le Drian warned that if the conflict did not stop there was a risk of civil war.
“If this continues, Lebanon is in danger of death,” he told LCI television.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was visiting the Middle East on a final push for peace before next month’s election, while Saudi Arabia, which has been reluctant to engage in Lebanon, sent a junior minister.
Neither Israel, whose Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticised the initiative, nor Iran were invited.
According to France’s foreign ministry the conference aims to raise at least €500 million in aid to primarily help the 500,000-1 million displaced. Lebanon says it needs $250 million a month to deal with the crisis.
The delegations will reiterate the need to cease hostilities on the basis of the 2006 UN Security Council resolution 1701, which calls for southern Lebanon to be free of any troops or weapons other than those of the Lebanese state.