France is seriously leading a project to keep UNIFIL’s international forces in Lebanon under a new mandate that includes comprehensive supervision of the Lebanese border with Syria while maintaining a limited number of observers on the southern border, informed sources said.

The recent visit of the French presidential envoy to Lebanon, Anne-Claire Legendre, was primarily aimed at offering "France's services" to sponsor a Lebanese-Syrian dialogue for the purpose of demarcating the land and sea borders between the two countries, the sources told al-Akhbar newspaper.