France’s president began a visit to Lebanon Friday, where he will meet the crisis-hit country’s newly elected leaders, as the nation attempts to recover from the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war.

Lebanon's new president Joseph Aoun stressed to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday the urgency of an Israeli military withdrawal as stipulated by a ceasefire deal that ended the Israel-Hezbollah war in November.

BEIRUT (Reuters) -French President Emmanuel Macron called on Israel on Friday to accelerate its troop withdrawal from southern Lebanon, as a deadline nears for the pullout under the terms of a ceasefire that ended the war with Hezbollah last year.