Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has rejected claims that the ruling authority is confused and hesitant about possible regional developments after the U.S. and Israeli elections, Naharnet reported. Salam made the remarks in an interview with the newspaper An-Nahar.
Reacting to the claims, Salam said: "it is very unfortunate that the Lebanese people are being misled" by such speculation.
Salam said his government does not depend on external gambles or illusory calculations. He said it governs under the constitution, the law and a parliamentary vote of confidence that it won twice. "Our government governs by the force of the constitution, the law and the parliamentary vote of confidence granted to us not once, but twice," he said.
The prime minister said the government is using all means to maintain a safety net protecting Lebanon from dangers linked to instability abroad. He said it is doing so through its own strength and Lebanon's friendships with friendly countries.
Salam turned the argument on others. He said it is others, not his government, who tie their interests to foreign powers and gamble on external actors. "It is others who tie their interests to foreign powers, and it is others who gamble on external actors," he said. He added that Lebanon is protected only if the decision on peace and war and the monopoly on weapons stay strictly with the State.
Salam also criticised affiliations that, in his words, repeatedly pull Lebanon into futile wars. He said such affiliations only give Israel more pretexts to expand its occupation of the South and continue destruction, killing and displacement. "Enough with the affiliations that repeatedly drag Lebanon into the furnace of futile wars, which will lead to nothing but providing Israel with further pretexts to expand its occupation of the South and persist in destruction, killing and displacement," he said.
The account of the interview comes from Naharnet's report of the An-Nahar interview.