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Radio France Internationale
Radio France Internationale
National
Alison Hird

From protector to onlooker: how France lost its influence in Lebanon

Lebanese children wave French flags as they stand in front of a Lebanon's national flag, at a ceremony to open a French-built bridge by the coastal town of Naameh, south of Beirut, on 18 September 2006. © AP - PETROS KARADJIAS

France has multiplied its diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the growing conflict in Lebanon between Hezbollah and Israel, but the influence it wields in its former protectorate has declined dramatically in recent years. RFI looks at how France lost its clout.

Just two days after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was shot dead in Lebanon in an Israeli air strike, France's new Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot headed to Beirut.

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