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Recently, President Emmanuel Macron has been exerting influence in a region that France has largely avoided since the 20th century: the Middle East. Over the past few months, tensions have heated up between Turkey and France, supposed NATO allies, who have supported opposite sides in the Libyan Civil War. France has backed General Haftar’s Libyan National Army in conjunction with Egypt, UAE, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan, and Turkey supports the UN-backed Government of National Accord. France and Turkey have also clashed in the Mediterranean with France moving its navy in to aid Greece in a maritime dispute over potential gas and oil fields in the area.
France’s campaign for Middle East influence has not stopped at its engagements with Turkey. Following the recent tragic explosion in Beirut and subsequent political unrest and resignation of Hassan Diab’s government, President Macron was the first head of state to visit Lebanon. His visit was much more than a goodwill tour to a former colony and longtime ally. Macron spearheaded collecting aid for Lebanon, hosting a video call with regional allies, major world powers, and NGOs to urge these actors to fast track financial aid to Lebanon in response to the disaster. He has also made his hopes for the new Lebanese government known, proposing a “government of technocrats” to lead Lebanon out of crisis.
Last week French forensic police touched down in Beirut to investigate the explosion. And Sunday, France took the unprecedented step of resuming issuing visas to Lebanese citizens, which it had stopped doing due to the coronavirus pandemic that has ravaged Lebanon. As one senior Lebanese political source told Reuters, “Since he came here, Macron is acting as if he is president of Lebanon now…which is not bad because there is nobody today to play this role internally. Nobody trusts anyone.”
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