(27 May 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Dubai, United Arab Emirates – 27 May 2025
1. Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam heading to podium
2. Wide of audience
3. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Nawaf Salam, Lebanese prime minister:
“I come to you from Lebanon and my country today is emerging from the rubble of its crises. My country, which is exhausted by divisions, wars and guardianships – has decided to restore itself, to regain its word and to regain its state. Our project is based on the interdependence of reform and sovereignty, which requires the exclusivity of weapons. That is, we should be free from the duality of arms that led to the duality of decision-making and subsequently, to the loss of the national state project. Our vision for Lebanon is not a fantasy, but a realistic project. We want a state of law and institutions rather than a state of quotas and clientelism. A sovereign state, not one that is subject to dependence. A state that takes decisions, not an arena for conflict. We want a Lebanon that has its own decision in peace and war.”
4. Mid of journalists
5. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Nawaf Salam, Lebanese Prime minister:
“But let me mention here that we are working to implement all our international obligations, especially the (United Nations) Security Council Resolution 1701 and we commit to the cessation of hostilities. We are still facing occupation of our land and daily Israeli violations of our sovereignty.”
6. Close of photographer
7. Wide of audience applauding
STORYLINE:
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said on Tuesday during an address in Dubai that his country was "emerging from the rubble of its crises."
Speaking at the Arab Media Summit, Salam emphasized that there is a need for Lebanon to "regain its state" after enduring wars and guardianships.
"We should be free from the duality of arms that led to the duality of decision-making," he said.
There has been increasing pressure for the Lebanese militant group, Hezbollah to disarm.
Hezbollah is severely weakened after a war with Israel in which much of its top leadership was killed, and after losing a key ally with the fall of former Syrian President Bashar Assad, a conduit for Iran to send arms.
Israel and the U.S. are pushing for swift disarmament, but when and how it will happen – if it does – is contested.
Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun has said he is committed to bringing all arms in the country under state control, but that it will happen through discussions around a national security plan and not through force.
Under the U.S.-brokered ceasefire that ended the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war, Israeli forces were supposed to withdraw from all Lebanese territory by late January while Hezbollah had to end its armed presence south of the Litani River along the border with Israel.
Salam said his country is committed to United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which is at the heart of the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire and to cessation of hostilities.
"We are still facing occupation of our land and daily Israeli violations of our sovereignty," Salam said.
Lebanese officials say that the Israeli presence violates the ceasefire agreement in November, under which Israel and Hezbollah were supposed to withdraw their forces from southern Lebanon, with the Lebanese army taking control alongside U.N. peacekeepers.
Hezbollah’s stance that it will not discuss giving up its armed wing before Israel withdraws from five key border points in southern Lebanon appears likely to drag out the process.
AP video shot by Bassam Hatoum
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