BEIRUT (Reuters) – The coming six weeks are crucial for the future of Lebanon, French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters in Beirut during an official visit to the country reeling from last month’s deadly port blast and rising sectarian tensions.

Macron said he was ready to host an international conference on how to help Lebanon in mid-October.

Lebanese politicians, some former warlords who have overseen decades of industrial-scale state corruption, face a daunting task with an economy in crisis, a swathe of Beirut in tatters after the Aug. 4 port blast and sectarian tensions rising.

(Reporting by Michel Rose and Matthieu Protard in Paris; Editing by Alison Williams)

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