Parliament debates govt. statement ahead of vote of confidence

Parliament on Tuesday started debating the new government's policy statement, with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam voicing commitment to extending the state's sovereignty across Lebanon, stressing that only the country’s armed forces should defend the nation in case of war.

Hezbollah has kept its weapons over the past decades saying it is necessary to defend Lebanon against Israel. But many in Lebanon have been calling on the group to disarm, and such calls intensified during and after the latest war that stopped when a U.S.-brokered ceasefire went into effect on Nov. 27.

Salam was picked to form a new government last month after the devastating war between Israel and Hezbollah, which killed over 4,000 people and caused widespread destruction.

Salam said Tuesday that the government asserts that Lebanon has the right to defend itself in case of “aggression” and only the state has the right to have weapons. He also said that the government takes measures to liberate land occupied by Israel “through its forces only.”

“We want the state to tell us how it will face Israel’s ambitions, seeing as Lebanon has committed to the agreement while Israel has not,” Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab, who is a member of a bloc comprising ex-Free Patriotic Movement members, said.

Bou Saab also called all parties for a “real dialogue” involving the issues of abolishing political sectarianism and amending the current electoral law.

MP Paula Yacoubian of the Change bloc for her part said that Sunday's funeral of slain Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah was "a referendum that stressed refusing occupation, but it was not for supporting Iranian hegemony over Lebanon."

"President Joseph Aoun’s remarks that 'Lebanon has grown tired of the wars of others on its land' reflected the stance of the majority of the Lebanese people and urged seeking neutrality, so that Lebanon moves from the era of axes to the era of prosperity," Yacoubian added.

The head of Hezbollah's bloc MP Mohammad Raad meanwhile thanked Iran for "what it has offered and what it will keep offering to Lebanon and its people and its support for its causes, despite all the unjust accusations against it."

"The government must revoke the decision to ban the landing of Iranian flights, to avoid the threat of submission, which contradicts with national sovereignty, and to prevent harm against the interest of a large segment of the Lebanese," he added.

He also said that Hezbollah is still "evaluating" the latest war with Israel, adding that Israel's refusal to fully withdraw from Lebanon "requires a firm stance that translates the statement issued by the three presidents (Joseph Aoun, Nabih Berri and Nawaf Salam)."

He added that Hezbollah's MPs will grant their votes of confidence to the government "out of respect for the principle of participation."

In a post on the X platform, MP Nadim Gemayel described Raad's speech as "the rhetoric of the statelet in the face of the state."

"We will grant confidence to this government because it is not captive to a 'blocking one third,'" MP Sethrida Geagea of the Lebanese Forces said.

She also called for "building a serious and capable state that only contains legitimate weapons" and that takes its decisions independently and "not according to the game of axes."

MP Michel Mouawad meanwhile said: "I don't understand how Hezbollah agreed to hand over its weapons south of the Litani River and wants to keep them north of the Litani River."

"We don't want to destroy our country, but rather to build it hand-in-hand and the first challenge is sovereignty while the second challenge is reform," Mouawad added.

Raad hit back at Mouawad, saying: "He must show modesty and we're ready for dialogue, but not in this showoff fashion."