Lebanon’s new Prime Minister Nawaf Salam on Tuesday said he was reaching out to all across the political spectrum to help “rescue, reform and rebuild” his crisis-hit country.
“My hands are extended to all to set off together on this mission of rescue, reform and rebuilding,” he said in his first speech as premier, after Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah and its allies did not back his nomination.
“I am not of those who exclude but those who unite,” he said, calling for a “new chapter” in Lebanon.
President Joseph Aoun tasked Salam with forming a government on Monday, after a majority of other members of parliament gave him their endorsement.
Hezbollah had objected to any suggestion of Salam as premier in the past, but the militant group has been weakened by a war with neighbouring Israel that ended with a ceasefire in November.
Speaking after flying back to Lebanon to take on the post, Nawaf also pledged to ensure state authority over all Lebanese soil after the November 27 truce between Hezbollah and Israel.
He said he would “extend the authority of the Lebanese state across all its territory” and “work seriously to completely implement UN resolution 1701” that calls for Hezbollah to withdraw from south Lebanon.
