Lebanese Prime Minister at the UN: We are the only ones who will negotiate, and we will not accept our country becoming a battleground for others' conflicts

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam stated that “the world’s problem is not with the rules themselves, but with the selective application of them,” noting that his country faces three major challenges, the foremost being the restoration of national decision-making. In his address to the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Salam added: “It is our responsibility to reclaim our entire territory from Israeli occupation and to assert our sovereignty over it, and to restore our decision-making authority, ensuring that no weapons or decisions regarding war exist outside state institutions.” He pointed out that Lebanon, weakened by accumulated crises and external interventions spanning decades, “found itself in a war imposed upon it despite our prior warnings.” Salam emphasized that the sovereignty we uphold is indivisible, and “no one speaks on behalf of Lebanon except the Lebanese state; we alone will negotiate, and we will not accept our country becoming a battleground for others’ conflicts. The state does not reclaim its sovereignty through reform alone, but by restoring its national decision-making authority.” He also addressed the framework agreement with Israel, stating, “What is required today is to translate the framework agreement into a specific mechanism with a defined timeline.”