Lebanese President Joseph Aoun was in Turkey on Thursday to meet his counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan and seek support to advance a framework with Israel.
Authorities in Lebanon are counting on Ankara to help secure Israel's withdrawal from the south and restore stability to the area, President Aoun said before his first official visit to Turkey.
In an interview with Turkish news agency Anadolu, he said Turkey’s Nato membership and broad regional ties “qualify it to play a supportive role in the international promotion of the framework formula and to encourage relevant parties to fully comply with its terms”.
The interim deal, signed in Washington on June 26, has been criticised for failing to set a clear timetable for Israel to end its occupation of southern Lebanon. Instead, it says Israeli troops will “progressively redeploy out of the Lebanese territory”.
Lebanese officials are looking to regional and international powers to pressure Israel to withdraw its troops from the south, where the troops continue to demolish towns and villages.
“We call on Turkey, given its regional weight and multiple relationships, to support this track politically and diplomatically,” Mr Aoun said.
The Lebanese president is also seeking additional support for the country's armed forces, which have the mammoth task of disarming Hezbollah and bringing all weapons under state control.
Mr Aoun said he would raise the possibility of expanding Turkey's military support and training programmes, after Ankara expressed readiness to support Lebanon's military institutions.
“We are not asking Turkey for a role that replaces the Lebanese state, but for a supportive and complementary role,” he said. He added that Turkish support would come “in addition to existing US and international support, not as an alternative to it”.
Erdogan's leverage
Mr Aoun's visit to Turkey follows a trip to Washington on July 21, where he met US President Donald Trump. His meeting with the Turkish leader plays a complementary role, analysts say, due to Mr Erdogan's relationship with Mr Trump.
“Turkey is playing a leading role in Lebanon because of the special relationship between Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Donald Trump,” said Karim Bitar, a Middle East expert at Sciences Po Paris university.
“Mr Erdogan is one of the world leaders who really has Mr Trump's ear, who can pass important messages as there is a mutual respect and admiration between the two,” he added.
Aside from curbing Israel's influence in Lebanon, Turkey can also help quell Lebanese concerns about a possible return of Syrian influence to the war-weary country, an idea favoured by President Trump.
The US leader has repeatedly floated the idea of an Syrian intervention to help disarm Hezbollah – an idea rejected by Syria's leadership.
But Mr Erdogan, who has wielded considerable political and economic influence over Syria's new leaders, has instead urged Beirut and Damascus to develop “good-neighbourly relations”, saying they were both part of Turkey's “geography of affection and brotherhood”.
“Turkey is the leading influence on the new Syrian authorities and on President Ahmad Al Shara,” Mr Bitar told The National. “So it's important to make sure that Erdogan does not encourage him down this road and encourages him to show some restraint on this front.”
