Lebanese Prime Minister: Presence of the Army in the South is a State Presence
Beirut, August 21 (KUNA) -- Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam affirmed on Friday that the presence of the Lebanese Army in the south “is not merely a military deployment, but a state presence,” and that every site where the army is deployed is a site where the state reclaims its sovereignty, authority, and prestige. This statement came during his address to military personnel at the Benou Barakat barracks during a visit to Sidon to inspect the operations of the Lebanese Army’s South Litani sector.
Salam said, “Our government continues to work by mobilizing all possible Arab and international support to develop the human capabilities of the army, modernize its equipment, and improve the living and social conditions of its members.” Addressing the soldiers, he said, “I recognize the scale of the challenges you face, as well as the burdens you bear amid ongoing Israeli aggression. But I also know that sovereignty can only be restored by building a capable state, and a state cannot be capable without a single, strong army.”
He added, “We want this southern region, as well as all of Lebanon, to be under the authority of one state, with citizens living in security because they have an army to protect them, and for the country to enjoy stability as the state and its constitutional institutions reclaim their authority over war and peace.”
Salam emphasized that the strength of the Lebanese Army does not rest solely on its weapons, equipment, and personnel, but also on its unity. The army, he noted, is “one of the few institutions where Lebanese come together not as members of sects or regions, but as citizens of one nation.”
He considered that the best tribute to the army’s martyrs is “to build for their children a strong state with robust institutions, a state whose authority over its territory is uncontested, where no weapon stands above the army’s weapon, and where no will, domestic or foreign, rises above the will of its people as expressed through its constitutional institutions.”
He stressed that sovereignty “which we are restoring in security terms must also be entrenched in developmental, economic, and social terms.” He added that the state’s return to the south is not complete with the army’s deployment alone; the state is working to accompany it with schools, hospitals, roads, electricity, water, administration, judiciary, job opportunities, and reconstruction.
Salam reiterated the Lebanese state’s commitment to achieving the complete withdrawal of the Israeli occupation, the release of all prisoners, and the safe and dignated return of families to their cities and villages, along with their reconstruction.
Salam, accompanied by the Secretary-General of the Supreme Defense Council, Major General Muhammad al-Mustafa, was received in the south by Defense Minister Michel Mousa and Chief of Staff Major General Hassan Odeh.
For his part, the Defense Minister said, “Our visit to the south today is not merely fact-finding or inspection of conditions and needs, but to reaffirm our firm position calling for and striving to restore the state’s sovereignty over all its territories and achieve the complete withdrawal of the Israeli occupation army.”
He pointed out that this is “the primary objective of the negotiations Lebanon has entered, as it is the best and only available means to emerge from the tunnel and from this devastating war.”
He reaffirmed the Lebanese state’s position aimed at reclaiming “the state’s absolute authority over all its land, so that it has no partner or rival in decisions on war and peace, and so that no weapon exists except in its hands, and the army for the Lebanese serves as a fortress, sanctuary, and refuge.” (End) A.Y.B. / T.M.A.
