Europe
08:56 PM | 25 Jun 2026
After UNIFIL... Macron and Meloni call for an international coalition to strengthen Lebanon's sovereignty
Fady Mahouly
French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced, during a summit in Antibes, that France and Italy are seeking to form a multinational "coalition" after the end of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) mission in December, with the aim of strengthening "Lebanon's sovereignty."
Macron said: “We want to launch a coalition on the post-UNIFIL working mechanism, in coordination with the European Union and the United Nations, to strengthen the sovereignty of Lebanon and its armed forces and prevent its territory from turning into a base for regional escalation.”
For her part, Meloni considered that “Italy and France are capable of making a difference,” stressing “the necessity of ensuring an international presence that spares Lebanon an extremely dangerous security vacuum.”