French and Saudi diplomatic efforts are increasingly converging on Lebanon, where both countries are seeking to steer a fragile political process amid discussions over potential negotiations with Israel and lingering concerns over escalation risks and sequencing.

Following a visit to Beirut by Saudi envoy Prince Yazid bin Farhan, who met with Lebanese political leaders, and French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot’s trip to Saudi Arabia during a wider Gulf tour that also included the United Arab Emirates and Oman, French diplomatic assessments suggest that Riyadh is now fully engaged in the Lebanese file.

According to Annahar newspaper, Saudi Arabia is actively seeking to support internal stability in Lebanon and encourage coordination among the country’s three top officials. In particular, Riyadh is said to be working to persuade Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to align more closely with President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam on the framework of potential talks with Israel.

Diplomatic sources noted that both France and Saudi Arabia played a key behind-the-scenes role in convincing U.S. President Donald Trump to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into halting the war in Lebanon. French President Emmanuel Macron reportedly contacted Trump on April 8, the day Israel carried out heavy strikes in Lebanon. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman also held direct communication with the U.S. president, while Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan remained in regular contact with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in parallel efforts to contain the escalation.

According to the report, Riyadh has urged Beirut to move forward with negotiations with Israel, while expressing reservations about what it views as a tendency within the U.S. administration to accelerate the process toward a highly symbolic meeting between Lebanese and Israeli leadership.

According to these concerns, Washington is seen as pushing for a quick encounter between President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, primarily for its political optics—an image of a breakthrough that could be presented as a step toward peace—without ensuring that substantive diplomatic follow-through is guaranteed.

French officials share these reservations, particularly over the potential political and security consequences for Lebanon if such a meeting were to take place in the absence of an Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon. In that context, a high-profile encounter between Aoun and Netanyahu could carry significant risks for Beirut, both domestically and regionally.

U.S. officials, however, have reportedly countered that waiting for full alignment among Lebanese stakeholders risks prolonging the diplomatic deadlock, arguing that delaying initial steps could prevent any tangible progress from being achieved.

French diplomatic sources also say they view the likelihood of an Israeli withdrawal during an ongoing election cycle in Israel as low, describing the overall situation as highly complex and politically constrained.

In this context, discussions about convening an international conference to support the Lebanese army and reconstruction efforts are, in Paris’ view, premature. French officials argue that such initiatives cannot move forward meaningfully while Israeli forces remain deployed in southern Lebanon, airstrikes on border villages continue, and population displacement persists.

They further stressed that international support for the Lebanese army remains tied, in practice, to progress on the issue of Hezbollah’s weapons, warning that efforts to mobilize large-scale assistance will remain limited as long as disarmament remains unresolved.