Salam says Hezbollah disarmament 'historic moment' in 'very difficult' climate
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said that Hezbollah's disarmament south of the Litani river is "a historic moment in a very difficult environment".
Salam said, in an interview, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday, that Lebanon is "slowly but surely" regaining the trust of the international community and is moving to the second phase of disarming Hezbollah - north of the Litani.
"Our government had two main pillars on its agenda: reforms and the restoration of the state's monopoly over arms, for the first time since 1969," he told Bloomberg TV.
Salam called on Hezbollah to prioritize the national agenda over any other regional agenda and said that Lebanon wants to rebuild Lebanese-Iranian relations on mutual respect and "non-intervention" in each other's domestic affairs.
He also called on the international community to pressure Israel to abide to the November ceasefire deal. "We are living a sort of war of attrition from one side -- from Israel, and Israel continues to occupy parts of southern Lebanon. We are trying to mobilize the international community, and we don't want to spare any diplomatic or political means."
Source: Naharnet
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