Macron invited Lebanon and Israel to hold direct talks in Paris

France is ready to provide a platform for negotiations between Israel and Lebanon, French President Emmanuel Macron said. “France is ready to facilitate these negotiations by hosting them in Paris,” he wrote on Saturday on the social network X. The French president recalled that the Lebanese executive had expressed its readiness for direct negotiations with Israel. "Israel must take this opportunity to begin negotiations and a ceasefire, to reach a sustainable solution and to enable the Lebanese authorities to fulfill their obligations in favor of Lebanese sovereignty," Macron said. He said Hezbollah “must immediately stop its dangerous escalation.” “Israel must abandon a large-scale offensive and stop massive attacks, while hundreds of thousands of people have already fled from the bombing,” the head of state is convinced. “Everything must be done to prevent Lebanon from plunging into chaos,” the French president emphasized. Meanwhile, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said on Friday that Lebanon had not received a response from Israel to a proposal for direct negotiations to end the fighting.