France to host Lebanon aid event on anniversary of port disaster

The international conference will be held on August 4, a year after a massive port blast devastated Beirut.

France’s foreign ministry has said President Emmanuel Macron will host a new international conference on crisis-hit Lebanon next month, on the first anniversary of a devastating explosion at Beirut’s port that killed some 200 people and wrecked much of the Lebanese capital. The announcement on Friday came a day after Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri gave up trying to form a government, striking a further blow to a long-running political impasse. Prime Minister Hassan Diab has been serving in a caretaker capacity since resigning in the wake of the port explosion on August 4, 2020, with fractious sectarian politicians unable to agree on a new government ever since. The French foreign ministry said in a statement the event will be organised with the help of the United Nations “to respond to the needs of the Lebanese whose situation is deteriorating every day”.