Hollande gives assurances of French support to Lebanese President

Amid ongoing tensions in Lebanon and fears the Syrian conflict could spill over into that country, French President Francois Hollande on Thursday gave strong assurances to his Lebanese counterpart, Michel Sleiman, and vowed to stand behind his efforts to avoid entanglement in the Syrian war. The French leader spoke to the Lebanese President in a telephone conversation Thursday morning and "reaffirmed his support for the efforts of President Sleiman and the Lebanese army to preserve the policy of keeping distance (from the Syrian conflict) and favouring commitments agreed by the principal Lebanese political forces under an initiative (by Sleiman)...in June 2012," Hollande's office said. Hollande recalled to Sleiman the French initiative a week ago to get a UN Security Council declaration emphasising the attachment of the international community to Lebanese sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and unity, the Elysee Palace said in the statement. France has called for the forming of an international support group for Lebanon and is urging international mobilisation to preserve the stability of the country, which has been wracked by sectarian and political violence for several months and is vulnerable to contagion from the war in Syria. Hollande also thanked Sleiman for Lebanon's efforts to accept a large number of Syrian refugees, fleeing the fighting in their country and he stressed the need for increased international aid to help Lebanon face hundreds-of-thousands of refugee cases. Some undocumented reports say there may be over one million "official and unofficial" Syrians taking refuge in Lebanon. The French president also reiterated his full support for the UNIFIL deployment in southern Lebanon, a force in which France has several hundred troops.