Report: Paris to push for 'urgent settlement' in Lebanon

Hopes are pinned on the efforts that French presidential envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian will begin in the coming days regarding the Lebanese presidential file, political sources involved in the file said.

“It has become certain that the French are pushing for an urgent settlement for the Lebanese file, which Paris had previously outlined,” the sources told al-Joumhouria newspaper in remarks published Thursday, a day after a 12th presidential election session failed to produce a new president.

Diplomatic sources meanwhile told the daily that “the French atmosphere ahead of the expected meeting between the French president and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman indicates that the Elysee wants this meeting to represent a major impetus to finalize this settlement.”