Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam met on Monday with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and informed him that the government required over $7 billion to rebuild the country following the damage caused by the latest war with Israel. Salam said his government is committed to rebuilding "what had been destroyed in the Israeli attacks."
The meeting with the Shiite speaker from the Amal Party, an ally of the Iran-backed Hezbollah, was held after weeks of criticism levied against the prime minister by the terrorist group.
Hezbollah leaders are conditioning any future dialogue with Salam’s government on a series of demands, a senior party official said Monday.
Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah outlined four preconditions, including a complete Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory, a halt to IDF strikes on Lebanese targets, the release of all Lebanese prisoners of war held in Israel and a national plan to rebuild infrastructure damaged in the fighting.
"We will not discuss anything further with anyone before our demands are met," Fadlallah said, adding that Hezbollah tried to do its part and stand by Lebanese citizens, but as far as the group is concerned, it is the government's responsibility to rebuild.
The campaign against the prime minister was evident last month when Beirut's Camille Chamoun Sports stadium was reopened. During the ceremony, crowds were heard calling Salam a "Zionist." Tensions later simmered after he mentioned a potential normalization of relations with Israel in an interview with CNN.
Hezbollah-aligned media took Salam's quotes out of context, using only part of his answer to allege that he was in support of normalization, but without his demand that any such policy shift would be made only after the establishment of a Palestinian State. The online responses prompted the prime minister's office to issue a clarification. In the statement, the government urged the public to view the entire interview.
"Salam repeated his clear position that the only acceptable peace is one based on the Arab Peace Initiative and a two-state solution," the statement read, referring to a Saudi-backed 2002 outline charting a path toward normalization of ties between Israel and the Arab world. "Salam's positions are clear and cannot be subverted. Lebanon is committed to the Arab position. Normalization can only come after a Palestinian state is established."
Get the Ynetnews app on your smartphone: Google Play: https://bit.ly/4eJ37pE | Apple App Store: https://bit.ly/3ZL7iNv
A day after the prime minister's meeting with Berri, Salam said he had invited Hezbollah's parliament faction leader Mohamed Raad to meet with him at any time. "My door is always open," he said, but repeated the government's decision to disarm Palestinian refugee camps throughout Lebanon, as well as Hezbollah.
Lebanon was also trying to enlist Arab financial support. President Joseph Aoun visited Baghdad on Sunday and thanked the Iraqi government for providing his country with oil.
IDF strikes in southern Lebanon
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is due to arrive in Beirut on Tuesday, after a visit to Cairo and U.S. envoy Morgan Ortagus is also expected to arrive in the region after rumors spread that she would soon be leaving her post.
Meanwhile, the IDF continued striking Hezbollah operatives in southern Lebanon. Local outlets reported a strike on a vehicle and in a separate incident, at least one person was killed when his motorbike was attacked.
The Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Akhbar newspaper posted a video showing Lebanese army troops removing a flag of the IDF's Golani brigade, hung in the south. Lebanese security services were also arresting suspected collaborators with Israel, according to reports in the Saudi press, including a hospital administrator in Nabatieh who was arrested by military and Hezbollah forces after allegedly providing Israel with names of the terror group's operatives.