Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil has said that his bloc voted for Nawaf Salam in the binding consultations to pick a new PM due to his “reformist characteristics” and “the presence of consensus over him.”

Lebanon's new prime minister pledged Tuesday to extend state authority over all Lebanese soil after a November ceasefire ended a war between Hezbollah and Israel.

Nawaf Salam, in his first speech, said he would "extend the authority of the Lebanese state across all its territory" and "work seriously to completely implement U.N. resolution 1701" calling for Hezbollah to withdraw from south Lebanon.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has responded to the remarks that MP Mohammad Raad voiced Monday at the Baabda Palace, saying there was no “exclusion” in the designation of Nawaf Salam as premier.

Nawaf Salam, Lebanon's new prime minister, is a leading international judge who won support for staying out of the political infighting that has paralyzed the crisis-hit country in recent years.

The 71-year-old, who until now was presiding judge at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, hails from a prominent Beirut political family.

The Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert welcomed the election of Joseph Aoun as Lebanon’s new President, expressing hope that it would act as "the kick-start Lebanon desperately needs for institution-strengthening and the enactment of critical reforms".

Noting the steep drop-off in violence following the entry into force of the cessation of hostilities on 27 November, Hennis-Plasschaert relayed Monday that some progress was being made with respect to Israeli withdrawal from and Lebanese redeployment to positions in southern Lebanon, while adding that more works needed to be done.

France on Monday hailed the appointment of Nawaf Salam as Lebanon's new prime minister, saying he had the will to help the war-scarred country emerge from its deep economic crisis.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun picked Salam, the presiding judge at the International Court of Justice, as prime minister.

Prominent Lebanese diplomat and judge Nawaf Salam was named PM-designate on Monday after he won sweeping support from legislators, as Hezbollah accused some parties of "staging an ambush aimed at disintegration, partitioning, elimination and exclusion."

The Presidency, which issued a decree naming Salam as PM-designate, said the latter received 84 votes as caretaker PM Najib Mikati received only nine votes and 35 MPs refrained from naming anyone.

Hezbollah’s Loyalty to Resistance bloc on Monday asked President Joseph Aoun to postpone its consultations meeting with him until Tuesday before eventually reversing its decision, the state-run National News Agency and Lebanese and Arab TV networks said.

President Joseph Aoun met Monday at the Baabda Palace with a U.S. military delegation, hours after Israel carried out violent airstrikes deep in south Lebanon and on the country’s border with Syria.

A high-level delegation from the United Arab Emirates is in Beirut to undertake all necessary arrangements to reopen the UAE Embassy in Lebanon, the state news agency of the oil-rich nation said.

Monday’s move came days after Lebanon’s army commander, Gen. Joseph Aoun, was elected president ending a 26-month vacuum in the country’s top job.