French President Emmanuel Macron, hosting an event attended by a Lebanese minister, issued a warning that "occupation" does not bring security, in a message seen as directed at Israel.
"No occupation, no form of colonisation — not here, not in the (occupied) West Bank, nor anywhere else — is able to ensure the security of anybody," Macron said on Monday as he opened an exhibition at the state-funded Institute of the Arab World in Paris.
He was speaking alongside Lebanon's culture minister, Ghassan Salame.
The remark came as Israel waged war on Lebanon.
Israel has been conducting air strikes and later sent ground troops for its ground invasion into Lebanon's south in what its military has described as a "limited" incursion.
The Israeli aggression has killed more than 1,000 people, according to Lebanese officials.
Israeli violence in occupied West Bank
In the occupied West Bank, meanwhile, at least six Palestinians have been killed in attacks and buildings, and cars have been torched by illegal Israeli settlers since the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Macron urged respect for international law, saying that "at a time that certain people want to have us believe that security can only be achieved by invading a scary neighbour, Lebanon reminds us of just one thing: the force of universalism".
The Paris exhibition is dedicated to Byblos, a city in Lebanon inhabited since 6900 BC, which is considered the oldest port in the world.
