Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam emphasized on Friday that Lebanon has succeeded at making a new promising start despite all the challenges facing the process of reform and restoring confidence in the state.
He said the government has a task of restoring the confidence of its people, Arab brethrens, its friends, and the whole world in Lebanon as a state.
Salam made his remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat before heading to Baghdad leading a delegation of officials to take part in the Arab summit. He will “convey a message of promise and hope” about Lebanon to the Arab leaders and their people, he said, expressing deep trust in the capability to make remarkable achievements.
On the message he plans to convey at the Arab summit, Salam said he and the accompanying delegation want to assure that Lebanon has returned to the Arab fold. Lebanon is relentlessly working to “return to the Arab and international map...We also want the Arab summit to help Lebanon in pressuring Israel to withdraw from the entire Lebanese territories” it is occupying.
Salam stressed that Hezbollah lawmakers have agreed to the ministerial statement - based on which the government garnered the parliament’s confidence- which clearly states that weapons are restricted to the state’s authority. “The government is working on achieving this goal”, he said.
The Prime Minister pointed to the army’s efforts in that regard. He said the military has deployed in South Lebanon and continues to dismantle military infrastructures and intensifies measures to control the border with Syria in order stop all kinds of smuggling, not to mention the security measures it has taken at the country’s airport.
Salam emphasized that there will be no turning back in the decision to limit weapons to the state’s control.
On Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia, Salam said that there is a major turning point happening in the region and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has succeeded at drawing itself a major player in international relations.
