Israeli attacks left swathes of south Lebanon’s towns and villages in ruins [Ramiz Dallah/Anadolu/Getty]
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam on Friday visited southern Lebanon, scarred by the devastating Israeli war last year which left swathes of it in ruins.
Salam, whose newly formed cabinet passed a vote of confidence in parliament this week, was accompanied by a number of ministers.
They arrived in the south via helicopter on a visit that included army barracks in Tyre and Marjaayon, and a stop in Nabatieh, where they met with Lebanese soldiers and troops from the UN peacekeeping mission, UNIFIL.
The premier also met with residents of the village of Dhaira, which saw heavy destruction in the war.
“The army is the [sole] defender of Lebanon, and it has the responsibility to maintain the security of the homeland, protect its people, and preserve its sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity,” Salam, who was previously the head of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), said according to local media.
“Today, the Lebanese army is fully carrying out its duties and reinforcing its deployment with determination in order to consolidate stability in the south and the return of our people to their villages and homes.”
Salam vowed that his government would work to strengthen the Lebanese Armed Forces through an increase in personnel and equipment.
Like most institutions in the country, the Lebanese military has been massively affected by an unprecedentedly severe financial crisis since 2019 which has seen the local currency crash and lifelong bank savings wiped out.
The Lebanese army’s main military backer is the US and it has also received financial support from Qatar in recent years.
On his visit, Salam lauded the role of UNIFIL in southern Lebanon.
“I would like to express my appreciation for UNIFIL’s role as a peacekeeping force that has been present in Lebanon’s south since 1978, and which a number of its members have given their lives to the mission,” Salam said.
Hezbollah weapons coordinator ‘killed’
A US-mediated ceasefire deal went into effect on 27 November after more than a year of hostilities between Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group and Israel.
Israel dramatically escalated the low-level conflict into a full-blown war in September 2024, launching massive airstrikes that killed most of Hezbollah’s leaders, as well as a ground invasion of south Lebanon.
In line with the November ceasefire, Israeli forces were supposed to completely pull out of south Lebanon in 60 days and Hezbollah’s fighters move north of the Litani River, as thousands of Lebanese army soldiers are deployed to the region.
The deadline for Israeli forces to withdraw was extended to 18 February, and while Israel has removed the bulk of its forces from southern Lebanon, it has kept troops in five strategic hilltops near the border, which Defence Minister Israel Katz on Thursday said will remain there “indefinitely” until Beirut fully implements its side of the deal.
Hezbollah is obliged to fully disarm and hand its weapons over to the state, according to the ceasefire deal.
The Lebanese government is calling on mediators US and France to pressure Israel to completely pull out and end its occupation of remaining territories in the south.
Israel has also continued to launch strikes in the south and east near the border with Syria, claiming it is preventing Hezbollah from rearming after a heavy defeat in the war, which saw the Shia group’s command structure eliminated and thousands of its fighters killed.
The Israeli army claimed it killed a “top Hezbollah weapons coordinator” on Thursday in an airstrike on Hermel, a town in the northernmost part of Beqaa in east Lebanon.
“Last night, under Intelligence Branch direction, the Israeli Air Force struck Hermel, killing Muhammad Mahdi Ali Shaheen, a Hezbollah terrorist responsible for coordinating weapons smuggling on the Syria-Lebanon border,” an army spokesman said.
Aoun’s Saudi visit
Separately, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun is expected to visit Saudi Arabia this weekend on his first trip abroad since being elected in January.
His election was widely backed by Washington and Riyadh and ended a two-year vacancy in the presidency.
His visit to the kingdom is anticipated to start a new chapter in Saudi-Lebanon ties which had become cold over the past decade over Riyadh’s frustration with what it considered to be Hezbollah’s growing dominance over Lebanon’s political landscape.
With the Iran-backed militant group battered, analysts believe crisis-hit Lebanon now has renewed opportunity to mend ties with the Gulf to attract investments and aid needed for economic recovery and reconstruction, as long as Lebanon carries out significant political, economic, and administrative reforms.
Dozens of deals put on hold could be signed during Aoun’s visit and some observers say Riyadh could this year lift the ban on its nationals visiting Lebanon.
