BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 1,746, September 14, 2020
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: France’s longstanding diplomatic involvement in Lebanon was intended to promote Lebanese stability, sovereignty, and democracy, but it has failed to achieve any of those goals. As long as Paris continues to consider Hezbollah integral to Lebanon’s democratic life and denies that it is a terrorist organization controlling Lebanon with a private army, its ability to stabilize Lebanon will remain slim to nil.
French president Emmanuel Macron visited Lebanon on September 1, 2020 ostensibly to mark the centennial of the country’s independence, but also as a


