[108579] Lebanese PM Nawaf Salam: We will work to strengthen state authority against Hezbollah

Lebanese PM statement: "We will not accept two armies in one country"

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam spoke today (July 2, 2026) regarding the internal tensions with the Hezbollah organization. According to a report by the gdh channel, Salam clarified that Lebanon does not desire an armed confrontation with the organization, but emphasizes that the government "will not back down from the goal of strengthening the state's authority."

Within the accumulating reports from sources such as Son Dakika Haberler Gündem and Askeri Operasyon Haberleri, Salam emphasized the absurdity of the existence of "two armies" under one sovereignty. The PM questioned why the deployment of the Lebanese army in the south of the country had been avoided since the Israeli withdrawal in 2000, and declared that now "wherever the Israeli army withdraws from, the Lebanese army will enter to establish the authority of the state."

Salam added firmly that the government will refuse to surrender to the pressures exerted upon it, and noted that the strategic goal is for "the weapons to be in the hands of the state only" (according to Son Dakika Haberler Gündem).

The reporting sources, identified with the Turkish news stream (Son Dakika), present Salam's words as an official position attempting to balance the desire to avoid civil war with the need to implement absolute state sovereignty in southern Lebanon.