UN chief pledges International support as Lebanon rebuilds

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has said the international community will back Lebanon “for what we believe will be a speedy recovery of this country, making it again the centre of West Asia”.

The UN chief made the comments on Saturday following a meeting in Beirut with Lebanon’s newly-elected president Joseph Aoun.

A new prime minister was also named to form a government following Aoun’s election last week. Lebanon had been without a president for 26 months, part of internal divisions in the small nation.

Guterres said that naming a president and prime minister makes it possible to consolidate the Lebanese institutions and to deploy the Lebanese army across the country, including areas from where Israeli troops will withdraw. “As soon as the conflict ends, reconstruction begins,” Guterres said.

The US-brokered ceasefire is an attempt to end the Israel-Hezbollah war that has killed more than 4,000 people and wounded over 16,000 in Lebanon.

Part of the deal is that Hezbollah will pull out from the border area with Israel and only Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers can have armed presence along the Israeli border.