BEIRUT — Lebanon’s new prime minister established the country’s first full-fledged government since 2022.
President Joseph Aoun announced in a statement that he had accepted the resignation of the former caretaker government and had signed a decree with new Prime Minister Nawaf Salam to form the new government.
Salam promised to “restore trust between citizens and the state, between Lebanon and its Arab neighbors, and between Lebanon and the international community,” as well as to implement the reforms required to bring the country out of its long-running economic crisis.
“Reform is the only path to true salvation,” he declared in a speech on Saturday.
He also promised to follow up on the implementation of a ceasefire agreement that ended Israel’s most recent war with the Lebanese militant group and political party Hezbollah in late November, as well as to ensure that Israeli forces “withdraw from Lebanese territory until the last inch.” He promised to rebuild areas that were destroyed during the war.
Salam’s cabinet of 24 ministers, evenly split between Christian and Muslim sects, was formed less than a month after his appointment, and it comes at a time when Lebanon is scrambling to rebuild its battered southern region and maintain border security.
Lebanon is also still suffering from a crippling economic crisis, now in its sixth year, that has battered its banks, destroyed its state electricity sector, and prevented many poor people from accessing their savings.
Salam, a diplomat and former president of the International Court of Justice, has pledged to reform Lebanon’s judiciary and battered economy, as well as restore stability to the troubled country, which has been plagued by economic, political, and security crises for decades.
The new government represents a shift away from Hezbollah.
Though Hezbollah did not support Salam as prime minister, the Lebanese group did negotiate with the new prime minister over Shiite Muslim seats in government, as part of Lebanon’s power-sharing arrangement.
That was despite comments by US envoy Morgan Ortagus, who said in a speech in Beirut on Friday that Washington had “set clear red lines from the United States” that Hezbollah would not be “a part of the government.” Many people in Lebanon reacted negatively to the comments, viewing them as meddling in internal Lebanese affairs.
Lebanon’s new leaders also represent a departure from Hezbollah-aligned leaders, as Beirut seeks to strengthen ties with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations concerned about Hezbollah’s growing political and military power over the last decade.
In early January, former army chief Aoun was elected president, filling the vacancy. He was also not supported by Hezbollah or its key allies.
Aoun has expressed similar sentiments to Salam, vowing to consolidate the state’s right to “monopolize the carrying of weapons,” presumably referring to Hezbollah’s weapons.
Clashes along the eastern border continue.
While the formation of a government appeared to be a sign of hope for the country’s future stability, Lebanon’s security situation remains tense on multiple fronts.
Clashes erupted on the eastern border with Syria earlier this week between Lebanese clans and the new Syrian government’s security forces, which are largely made up of former members of the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.
The porous border has long served as a conduit for smuggling people, weapons, and drugs. Syrian officials reported that security forces were cracking down on smuggling gangs.
The Lebanese army said Saturday that several Lebanese areas had been “subjected to shelling and gunfire” from Syria, and that it had ordered soldiers stationed along the border to “respond to sources of fire launched from Syrian territory.”
Ceasefire agreement extended
Separately, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that six people were killed and two injured in an Israeli drone strike on Saturday in the Janata area, near the eastern border with Syria.
The Israeli military said in a statement that it had struck “Hezbollah operatives” who “were operating in a strategic weapons manufacturing and storage site” owned by the militant group.
Since the ceasefire agreement went into effect, Israel has launched nearly daily strikes on what it claims are Hezbollah facilities in Lebanon. The agreement states that both Israel and Lebanon have the right to act in “self defense,” but it does not specify what constitutes self defense.
The original 60-day deadline for carrying out the terms of the ceasefire agreement expired in late January, but Lebanon and Israel agreed to extend it until February 18.
