US and France diverge in approach to Hezbollah and Lebanese politics

Since 2019, the US has been escalating sanctions against political and party figures affiliated with Hezbollah, including key figures like the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc leader, Mohammad Raad, and the Head of the Coordination and Liaison Unit, Wafiq Safa. Meanwhile, the divergence between Washington and Paris on how to approach the Lebanese crisis has become increasingly apparent.

The explosion at the Port of Beirut prompted French President Emmanuel Macron to visit the city the following day, positioning himself as a mediator in the roundtable discussions that brought together opposing political factions at the Pine Palace. While there is no head to a roundtable, Macron chose to address one, Hezbollah.

Despite successive US blows to the bridge the French president has been building with the party, figures and entities affiliated with Hezbollah remain on the US sanctions list for political and financial corruption.

On August 31, 2020, Macron returned to Lebanon on the occasion of the centenary of the establishment of Greater Lebanon by French mandate, seeing the party as the key to the solution. Nine days after his visit, the US imposed sanctions on the political aide to Speaker Nabih Berri, MP Ali Hassan Khalil, and former minister and ally of the Marada Movement leader Sleiman Frangieh, Youssef Fenianos, for "their cooperation with Hezbollah and involvement in corrupt activities."

French efforts to market former MP Sleiman Frangieh, a candidate supported by both Hezbollah and the Future Movement, have not stopped regionally or internationally, within the Group of Five, bilaterally with Saudi Arabia, or unilaterally. 

However, this effort has also been stifled by sanctions imposed on those within Frangieh's orbit. The US imposed sanctions on the Rahme brothers, Teddy and Raymond, the former being close to the Lebanese Forces, and the latter to the Marada Movement, "for using their wealth, power, and influence in corrupt practices that contribute to the collapse of the rule of law at the expense of the people."

This response demonstrates the US player using sanctions to challenge French attempts to lead the mediation of the Lebanese crisis. Decision-making in Lebanon, however, cannot bypass international and regional intersections, and it will never be unilateral.