Reuters
France President Emmanuel Macron will travel to Lebanon on Friday for the first time since 2020 to help speed up the formation of a government that can quickly implement reforms and open the door to reconstruction. Since a truce brokered by France and the United States in November between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, Paris has played a key role in helping break Lebanon's political deadlock, along with its American and Saudi counterparts, that has now led to a new president and prime minister. As a former French protectorate, Beirut has strong historical ties with Paris, but the relationship has been complicated in recent years.