Lebanese Prime Minister sent a message to Hezbollah from Tyre: "One army — there is no other option"

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam declared on Friday during a visit to the south of the country that his government is determined to restore the full authority of the state to the region, and emphasized that the presence of the Lebanese army in the south must be accompanied by the return of all government institutions. His remarks were made during a visit to the Benu Barakat military base in the city of Tyre, against the backdrop of ongoing tensions with Israel and Lebanese efforts to establish army control in the area.

"We have no other option but one army, one flag, and one state," Salam said in a speech to officers and soldiers of the Lebanese army.

He added: "We want the south, like all of Lebanon, to be under the authority of one state." According to him, the presence of the army in the south represents the presence of the state, but the return of the state to the region "is not complete through the deployment of the army alone, but through the integration of all state institutions."

The Prime Minister arrived in Tyre on a Lebanese army helicopter, accompanied by the Secretary-General of the Higher Defense Council, Muhammad al-Mustafa. At the base, he was received by Minister of Defense Michel Manassa, Chief of Staff Hassan Ouda, and the commander of the sector south of the Litani, Nicolas Thabet. Salam laid a wreath at the monument to the fallen soldiers and received a military briefing on the deployment of forces, operational coordination, and the security situation in the south.

Salam emphasized that Lebanon's strength does not rely only on the amount of weapons in the hands of the army, but also on its "unity and cohesion," and promised that the government would continue to work to mobilize Arab and international support to strengthen the army's capabilities. The message aligns with the policy promoted by his government, according to which security responsibility and decisions of war and peace should be in the hands of state institutions only.

The visit took place about a week after a round of extensive Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon, in which, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, 11 people were killed. Salam and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun warned following the strikes that the escalation could harm efforts to stabilize the region. At the same time, Beirut continues to demand the cessation of Israeli strikes and the completion of the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory.

Salam's emphasis on "one state" takes on special significance in the Lebanese political arena, against the backdrop of the ongoing dispute over Hezbollah's weapons and its role in the south. The government seeks to present the deployment of the army and the strengthening of state institutions as a basis for regulating the situation in the region and preventing a return to a broad conflict with Israel.