No more adventures: Salam calls on Arab countries to support, invest, donate

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam urged Arab countries to stand by Lebanon and to participate in the army support conference that will be held next month in Paris, as he attended on Tuesday the World Governments Summit in the UAE.

Salam said Lebanon is committed to reforms that would encourage investments and now has the war and peace decision, asking Arab "brothers" to support the crisis and war-hit country in its reformist journey and to participate "actively" in the army support conference.

Salam vowed that he will not allow his country to be dragged into a new conflict, adding that he maintains good relations with President Joseph Aoun and Speaker Nabih Berri despite differences in approaches. "Cooperation is essential," he said.

Hezbollah had recently warned that any attack on its Iranian backer would be an attack on the group.

"We will never allow anyone to drag the country into another adventure," Salam said, in response to a question about comments made by Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem last week.

Qassem had responded to American threats of military action against Iran, saying "We will choose at that time how to act... but we are not neutral."

Salam said Hezbollah's decision to enter the Gaza war in support of its ally Hamas had "very big" consequences for Lebanon and that "no one is willing to expose the country to adventures of this kind".

More than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, which largely ended with a November 2024 ceasefire, badly weakened the group.

The government has begun implementing a plan to disarm it starting in the south, one of its main traditional strongholds.

In January, Lebanon's army said it had completed the first phase of its plan to disarm Hezbollah, covering the area south of the Litani river, around 30 kilometers from the Israeli border.

Salam said that the state had "worked to regain control over decisions on war and peace".

"The Lebanese army has full operational control over the south," he added.

Israel, which accuses Hezbollah of rearming, has criticized the army's progress as "insufficient", while Hezbollah has rejected calls to surrender its weapons.

Salam called on Arab countries to support the Lebanese army to bolster state control over the entire country.

"In order for the state to extend its authority over all its territory... we need to support the armed forces," he said.

"A conference will soon be held in Paris to support the Lebanese Armed Forces, and I hope that all our Arab brothers will participate actively".

French President Emmanuel Macron will open the international conference in support of the Lebanese Army in Paris on March 5.