Lebanon has named the president of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) Nawaf Salam as its new prime minister in a move that is understood to have angered Hezbollah.
The country’s new president Joseph Aoun, who was elected last week, has asked the ICJ chief to form the country’s new government after Mr Salam was named prime minister by a large number of legislators on Monday.
Mr Salam’s nomination was made by Western-backed groups, as well as independents in the Lebanese parliament.
Mr Salam has the support of Saudi Arabia and Western countries but Hezbollah legislators abstained from naming any candidate for the prime minister’s post.
In past years, Hezbollah has repeatedly blocked Mr Salam from becoming prime minister, casting him as a US-backed candidate.
Mr Salam will have a difficult mission ahead of him following the truce with Israel that caused widespread destruction in the Mediterranean nation and weakened the Iran-backed Hezbollah.
He will also have to work on getting the small nation out of its historic five-year economic meltdown.
Head of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc Mohammed Raad said: “We will see their acts when it comes to forcing the occupiers to leave our country, bringing back prisoners, reconstruction” and the implementation of the UN Security Council resolution that ended the Israel-Hezbollah war.
He said Hezbollah extended its hand last week by electing Mr Aoun and they were hoping to meet an extended hand from the other side, “but this hand was cut off.”
Mr Salam’s nomination is seen by many as a glimpse of hope after the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war in Lebanon that left 4,000 people dead and more than 16,000 wounded and caused destruction totalling hundreds of millions of dollars.
The conflict began one day after the October 7 attacks in Israel, but weapons have since been laid down after a 60-day ceasefire agreement was brokered by the US and came into effect on November 27.
Israel and Hamas appear to be inching closer to a phased ceasefire agreement, officials said on Monday. A deal has not been reached and there are still several obstacles that could still scupper the talks in Qatar.
A total of 46,006 Palestinians have been killed and 109,378 wounded since October 7, with the Gaza Health Ministry saying that women and children make up more than half the fatalities.
