Beirut
—
Lebanon’s prime minister on Thursday made an urgent appeal to President Donald Trump to intervene in the cause of peace, calling for an immediate ceasefire and direct dialogue with Israel.
As the death toll from Israel’s onslaught against Lebanese militant group Hezbollah reaches 1,000, Nawaf Salam told CNN in an exclusive interview that he called for a ceasefire “yesterday, not tomorrow.” Lebanese officials said more than 100 of the dead were children.
When asked about his message to Trump, Salam said, “This is to help end the conflict in Lebanon. I would like to reaffirm to President Trump that we are ready to enter into negotiations immediately.” He called the United States a “strategic partner” and said Trump “more than anyone else” could play a “decisive role” in ending the war.
“We therefore call for further American involvement, which means direct contact. We are ready to negotiate with Israel,” the prime minister said.
Prospects of a negotiated end to the Lebanese conflict, which began 17 days ago when Hezbollah fired projectiles at Israel in revenge for the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, have evaporated in the past 48 hours as Israel’s military operation focuses on a widespread ground invasion. Salam said France has proposed several ideas for reconciliation and has been in contact with U.S. officials. Still, he declined to suggest that actual negotiations have begun.
One likely sticking point is that Lebanon does not recognize the state of Israel. Pressed three times about whether such concessions were possible in any peace deal, Salam rejected direct offers, blaming the lack of progress on Israel’s failure to respond to Lebanon’s overtures.
“We have been reaching out to the Israeli side for two weeks to have a direct dialogue. So far we have not received any agenda from the Israeli side,” he said. If Lebanon gets a “clear agenda” from the Israeli side, “then we will certainly answer your questions,” he added.
Salam, a widely respected politician and a key figure in the government’s new commitment to disarm Hezbollah, said Lebanon lacks the military capacity to do so and is in urgent need of military aid to its army. However, he rejected any involvement of foreign forces and insisted that Lebanon’s territorial integrity was central to the peace deal.
Israel has moved further into Lebanon in the past week, raising concerns that it is seeking to create a deeper “buffer zone” along the border. Israeli forces have occupied land south of the Litani River, and Lebanese have been asked to evacuate the area.
“We cannot tolerate any violation of buffer zones, security zones or sovereignty,” Salam said. “We cannot negotiate any form of treaty, arrangement or arrangement with Israel until (our) sovereignty is fully restored.”
Mr. Salam expressed grave concern about the growing humanitarian crisis for the one million Lebanese people who have been displaced by Israel’s military action and its evacuation orders, which currently affects all of southern Lebanon below the Zahrani River and large parts of southern Beirut.
“This is almost 20%, if not 25% of the Lebanese population,” he says. “These people are also victims of war. This war was imposed on us. We did not ask for it, we did not choose it. And now our main objective is how to end the war. Lebanon has become a battleground in the war between Israel and Iran.”
