Salam: Tying Lebanon to regional crises gives Israel pretext for aggression

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam says that tying Lebanon to regional calculations would give Israel a “pretext to expand its aggression” against the country, where Israel has been fighting Hezbollah for more than two weeks.

Lebanon was brought into the regional war on March 2, when Hezbollah fired rockets toward Israel in response to the killing of its ally Iran’s supreme leader in Israeli-US attacks.

Israel responded with heavy airstrikes across various regions and ground incursions, which combined have left more than a thousand people dead.

In a speech in Beirut, Salam says that “linking Lebanon to regional calculations larger than it is does not protect it. Rather, it doubles the cost for it and gives Israel a pretext to expand its aggression.”

“We must read regional changes through the lens of protecting Lebanon, and we must put the national interest ahead of any other consideration.”

He says, “Lebanon’s priority today is to stop the war, stop the destruction, stop the displacement, protect civilians, ensure their return and launch reconstruction.”

Salam says that “restoring the authority of the state is not against anyone, nor is it a targeting of anyone. Rather, it is a protection for everyone. Lebanon has no future if it remains half a state and half a battleground.”