Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam on Tuesday expressed surprise at US special envoy Tom Barrack’s remarks, questioning the Lebanese government and army’s commitment to undertaking reforms and disarming non-state actors.
Mr Barrack has been leading a push by the Trump administration for Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah, the Iran-backed paramilitary group and political party that was greatly weakened in its latest war with Israel.
In a post on X, Mr Salam said: “I affirm that the government is committed to implementing its ministerial statement in full, particularly with regard to implementing the reforms it pledged, extending the state's authority over all its territory with its own forces, and restricting the possession of weapons to the state alone, as reflected in the Cabinet's decisions in this regard."
The Lebanese government has committed to disarming non-state groups, including Hezbollah. The army has already deployed in southern areas bordering Israel to oversee the withdrawal of Hezbollah forces and the dismantling of its military infrastructure, under the terms of a ceasefire to end the war last November.
However, Hezbollah says it will not give up its weapons as long as Israel continues to strike at targets in Lebanon it claims are linked to the group and maintains troops inside Lebanese territory, in violation of the truce.
The government this month accepted an army plan for disarming Hezbollah that did not set a firm deadline, contrary to previous calls for the process to be completed by the end of the year.
“I would say the Lebanese, and I don't mean this in a disrespectful way, all they do is talk,” Mr Barrack said in an interview with Hadley Gamble, chief international anchor at International Media Investments.
“I know this is a difficult decision. I know they don't want a civil war There's not going be a civil war. Hezbollah is at the lowest point in history that they’ve ever been. We'll help them, but if they don't want to help themselves, this President's not going to waste his time and effort,” he said of Donald Trump.
Mr Salam said he was “fully confident that the Lebanese army is fulfilling its responsibilities in protecting Lebanon's sovereignty, ensuring its stability and performing its national duties, including implementing the plan it presented to the Cabinet on September 5”.
“On this occasion, I call on the international community to intensify its support for the Lebanese army and to pressure Israel to withdraw from the territories it occupies and cease its repeated attacks, in implementation of the cessation of hostilities declaration issued in November 2024.”
Mr Salam questioned Mr Barrack’s claim that the prospect of peace in the Middle East was an “illusion”, and said his dismissal of recognition of Palestinian statehood by some UN Security Council members as unhelpful.
“There's never been peace [in the Middle East]. There will probably never be peace because everybody's fighting for legitimacy,” Mr Barrack told Ms Gamble.
Mr Salam said Lebanon had “deep belief in the possibility of achieving lasting peace in the region based on the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, as it was founded on the principles of justice, the provision of international law and UN resolutions, and calls for empowering the Palestinian people to determine their fate, including the establishment of their independent state”.
