Lebanon Has First Government in More Than 2 Years

Lebanon's new prime minister on Saturday formed the country's first full-fledged government since 2022. President Joseph Aoun announced that he had accepted the resignation of the former caretaker government and signed a decree with new Prime Minister Nawaf Salam forming the new government. Salam promised to "restore confidence between citizens and the state, between Lebanon and its Arab surroundings, and between Lebanon and the international community" and to implement reforms to bring the country out of an extended economic crisis. "Reform is the only path to a true salvation," he said in a speech on Saturday, the AP reports.

He also promised to follow up on implementation of a ceasefire agreement that ended the most recent war between Israel and the Lebanese militant group and political party Hezbollah in late November and to ensure that Israeli forces "withdraw from Lebanese territory until the last inch." He pledged to ensure reconstruction in areas that suffered destruction during the war. Salam's cabinet of 24 ministers, split evenly between Christian and Muslim sects, was formed less than a month after he was appointed. Lebanon is still in the throes of a crippling economic crisis, now in its sixth year, which has battered its banks, destroyed its state electricity sector and left many in poverty unable to access their savings.

Salam, a diplomat and former president of the International Court of Justice, has vowed to reform Lebanon's judiciary and battered economy and bring about stability in the troubled country, which has faced numerous economic, political, and security crises for decades. Although Hezbollah did not endorse Salam, the Lebanese group did engage in negotiations with the new prime minister over the Shiite Muslim seats in government, as per Lebanon's power-sharing system. That was despite comments by US envoy Morgan Ortagus, who said in a speech Friday in Beirut that the US had set "clear red lines" to keep Hezbollah out of the govenrnment. The comments drew backlash from many in Lebanon who saw them as meddling in their nation's affairs, per the AP.

(More Lebanon stories.)