Macron visits Beirut for first time since Aoun's election and visits Greek Orthodox college

French President Emmanuel Macron visited Beirut, the Lebanese Capital, for the first time since General Joseph Aoun was elected President of the Republic.

Before meeting with and congratulating the newly elected President, Macron along with his entourage, consisting of former French Foreign Minister and Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and current French ambassador to Lebanon, Hervé Magro spent two hours strolling through the streets and neighbourhoods of Beirut, greeted by thousands of Lebanese citizens.

Macron famously did this once before in 2020, right after the infamous and deadly Beirut port explosion.

This time, the French President had a happy occasion: the election of a Lebanese President after more than two years of deadlock. Le Drian had been going back and forth between the French and Lebanese capitals dozens of times in the last two years, working as part of a group of international countries trying to solve the deadlock.

President Macron and company walked happily through the French District of Rue Gouraud in the Gemmayzeh, a neighbourhood in the Rmeil district of Beirut in Lebanon.

It is named after French General Henri Gouraud. Greeted by thousands of happy Lebanese, the trio was treated to coffee, pastries, and all kinds of Lebanese treats, and they took pictures with Passerby’s.

After enjoying his stroll, President Macron made his way to the Beirut Annunciation Orthodox College (BAC) and met with the Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Beirut, his Eminence Metropolitan Elias Audi.

Metropolitan Audi took Macron on a tour of the school, where he was greeted by students, teachers, Greek Orthodox Priests, and onlookers.

The Beirut Annunciation Orthodox College was built in the 1950s, opening its doors in 1953 under the auspices of the former Greek Orthodox patriarch of Antioch, Ignatius Hazim IV, who was an archimandrite at the time, and it became the school's first principal.

The school offers a complete curriculum from preschool to grade twelve.

Elias Bechara is a writer interested in Lebanese and broader Eastern Mediterranean issues, as well as Byzantine history.

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