French President Emmanuel Macron is the first foreign head of state to visit Beirut since Joseph Aoun was elected president of Lebanon.

French President Emmanuel Macron has called on Israel to speed up its withdrawal from southern Lebanon as a withdrawal deadline looms under the terms of a ceasefire that ended last year’s war with Hezbollah.

Macron also said during a visit to Beirut on Friday that the Lebanese army must have a full monopoly on weapons and expressed France’s support for strengthening the Lebanese army’s deployment in the south of the country.

“We need a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops,” Macron said, speaking alongside Lebanon’s new president. Joseph AounHe served as Lebanese military commander before being elected head of state this month.

“We support… the strengthening and deployment of the Lebanese Armed Forces in the south of the country,” the French president said.

Macron is the first foreign head of state to visit Beirut since Lebanon’s parliament elected Aoun to fill the vacancy as head of state on January 9, marking a shift in the country’s balance of power after the war that has put Iran-aligned Hezbollah in a difficult position. was weakened.

Brokered by the United States and France, the ceasefire came into effect on November 27, requiring Israeli troops to withdraw from southern Lebanon within 60 days and Hezbollah to withdraw all armed personnel and weapons from the south.

With the withdrawal of Israeli troops on January 26, Lebanese troops must also deploy in the south along with United Nations peacekeepers.

With just over a week left before the deadline, Macron called for faster implementation of the truce.

“Results have been achieved… but they must be accelerated and sustained. The Israeli army needs to completely withdraw, and the Lebanese army must have a complete monopoly on all weapons in southern Lebanon,” Macron said.

A committee composed of representatives of Israel, Lebanon, France and the United States, as well as representatives of U.N. peacekeepers, oversees implementation of the agreement. ceasefire.

Macron also announced that Paris will host an international reconstruction conference for Lebanon in the coming weeks.

“In a few weeks President Aoun will arrive in Paris and we will organize an international reconstruction conference around him to raise funds,” Macron said.

“The international community must be prepared to provide massive support for infrastructure reconstruction.”

Al Jazeera’s Zeina Cordel reported from Beirut that, in the words of the French president, “spring has arrived in Lebanon.”

“He’s talking about a new reality in the country, a new leadership. … Macron’s visit is part of a show of support for the new leadership,” she said.

Hodel added that Macron, in his statement to the news media, also talked about the reforms that Lebanon needs to make during the formation of a new Lebanese government, whether in the judiciary, the financial sector or the public sector.