The leader of the Lebanese Forces Party, Samir Geagea, welcomed French Ambassador Hervé Magro to Meerab on Friday. Quentin Jeantet, a political attaché, and Romain Calvary, a media and political attaché also accompanied Magro.

Both sides concurred, according to a statement, on “the priority of sparing Lebanon the risk of descending into war, and the need to exert all possible efforts to prevent this.”

At the meeting, there was a strong emphasis on the need to fortify national and constitutional institutions against impending threats, especially to the military establishment, and to keep looking for “effective solutions to internal crises at the political and economic levels.”

For his part, Geagea stressed that “preventing the outbreak of war in Lebanon is in the hands of Caretaker Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, and House Speaker, Nabih Berri, “through a parliamentary recommendation or a government decision to deploy the Lebanese army along the entire southern border and to withdraw Lebanese and Palestinian fighters from the south of the Litani in accordance with resolution 1701 and in cooperation with UNIFIL.”