Qatar’s prime minister said during a visit to Beirut on Tuesday that Doha would help Lebanon rebuild after a devastating war between Israel and terror group Hezbollah, 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 Second Lebanon War of 2006.
“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 told 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 said, adding that he looked forward to forming “a strategic partnership” with Lebanon.
Al-Thani is set to meet other senior officials during what he described 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, alongside 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 man looks at a wall plastered with portraits of slain Hezbollah members in Ghobeiri in Beirut’s southern suburbs on January 27, 2025. (IBRAHIM AMRO / AFP)
A fragile Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire has been in place since November 27, after more than a year of hostilities, including two months of all-out war. The conflict began with Hezbollah cross-border attacks on October 8, 2023, the day after the Palestinian terror group Hamas led thousands of terrorists in a devastating invasion of southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and triggering war in the Gaza Strip.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah said its attacks were to support Gaza. By the time the ceasefire came into effect, Israel had decimated Hezbollah’s leadership and depleted its fighting capabilities.
Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas are all avowed to destroy Israel.
Al-Thani said it was crucial for Israeli troops to “adhere to the agreement on the withdrawal… from southern Lebanon.”
He also called for implementing a Security Council resolution that states United Nations peacekeepers and the Lebanese army should be the only forces present in the country’s south.
Under the truce deal, Lebanon’s military was to deploy in the south alongside UN peacekeepers as the Israeli army withdrew over a 60-day period.
Hezbollah was also to pull back its forces north of the Litani River — about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border — and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.
Israeli soldiers seen on the Israeli border fence with Lebanon, northern Israel, on February 2, 2025. (Ayal Margolin/Flash90)
The withdrawal period was extended to February 18 after the original January 26 deadline was missed.
Israel has said that it needs to stay longer because the Lebanese army has not deployed to all areas of southern Lebanon, as agreed, to ensure that Hezbollah does not reestablish its presence there. The Lebanese army has said it cannot deploy until Israeli forces withdraw.
Both sides have repeatedly accused the other of violations of the truce deal.
On Thursday the IDF said it shot down a drone launched by Hezbollah for the first time since the ceasefire went into effect. Later that night, Israeli fighter jets carried out airstrikes on Hezbollah targets in eastern Lebanon.
Al-Thani also said Qatar would continue to provide humanitarian aid, alongside support for Lebanon’s cash-strapped army.
Washington is the main financial backer of Lebanon’s army but it also receives support from other countries including Qatar, which has granted in-kind and monetary aid.
It’s not (only) about you.
Supporting The Times of Israel isn’t a transaction for an online service, like subscribing to Netflix. The ToI Community is for people like you who care about a common good: ensuring that balanced, responsible coverage of Israel continues to be available to millions across the world, for free.
Sure, we’ll remove all ads from your page and you’ll unlock access to some excellent Community-only content. But your support gives you something more profound than that: the pride of joining something that really matters.
Join the Times of Israel Community
Join our Community
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
You’re a dedicated reader
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel – to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
Join Our Community
Join Our Community
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’,
‘https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);
fbq(‘init’, ‘272776440645465’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
