Hollande in Beirut for Talks on Syria Crisis

French President François Hollande arrived in Beirut early on Sunday for a brief visit for talks with President Michel Sleiman on the Syrian crisis.

Hollande pledged support for Lebanon against threats of destabilization caused by the deadly conflict in neighboring Syria.

“France will spare no effort to guarantee Lebanon’s independence, unity and security,” Hollande said at a joint news conference with Lebanese President Michel Sleiman.

France is determined “to oppose with all its strength any bid to destabilize,” Lebanon, he added.

Hollande’s trip to Lebanon is the first by a French president since the previous head of state, Nicolas Sarkozy, visited in June 2008.

The visit comes two weeks after March 14 figures called on Prime Minister Najib Mikati to resign.

A French government source said the visit was “a strong political gesture of backing for Lebanon’s sovereignty and the preservation of its integrity in the face of destabilization threats.”

Hollande was due later to visit Saudi Arabia for talks with King Abdullah on Syria and Iran, before attending an Asia-Europe summit in Laos to talk trade at a time of economic crisis.

But security issues and politics topped the agenda of his talks with Sleiman in Beirut, at a time when Lebanon has been reeling from the effects of the conflict that has shaken Syria since mid-March 2011.
France, Lebanon’s one-time colonial ruler, has about 900 peacekeepers deployed near the border with Occupied Palestine.