Qatar urges Israeli pullout from Lebanon, pledges to help rebuild country after gov’t is formed

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun (R) meeting with Qatar's Prime Minister Mohammed Al-Thani in the presidential palace of Baabda, east of Beirut, on February 4, 2025. (Photo by Lebanese Presidency / AFP)
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun (R) meeting with Qatar's Prime Minister Mohammed Al-Thani in the presidential palace of Baabda, east of Beirut, on February 4, 2025. (Photo by Lebanese Presidency / AFP)

Qatar’s prime minister says during a visit to Beirut that Doha will help Lebanon rebuild after a devastating Hezbollah-Israel war, but only after a new government is formed.

Reeling from years of crisis and conflict, Lebanon has pinned hopes on wealthy Gulf states to fund reconstruction, with Qatar having been heavily involved in such efforts after the 2006 Second Lebanon War between Israel and the Iran-backed terror group.

“When it comes to economic support and support for reconstruction, there is no doubt that the State of Qatar will be there,” Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani tells reporters after meeting Lebanon’s newly elected President Joseph Aoun.

“We look forward to ongoing efforts to form a government, and after that, we will discuss these files,” Al-Thani says, adding that he looks forward to forming “a strategic partnership” with Lebanon.

Al-Thani is set to meet other senior officials during what he describes as a “visit of support,” including prime minister-designate Nawaf Salam, who has been tasked with forming a government, though efforts have stalled.

Qatar was among five countries, including the United States, France, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, which lobbied heavily for Lebanon to elect a president last month and end a two-year vacuum due to political deadlock.

A fragile Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire has been in place since November 27, after more than a year of hostilities sparked unprovoked by the terror group, including two months of all-out war.

Al-Thani says it is crucial for Israeli troops to “adhere to the agreement on the withdrawal… from southern Lebanon,” without making similar comments about Hezbollah, which similarly must withdraw from southern Lebanon by February 18.

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