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Salam says Lebanon won't sign any agreement without Israel's full withdrawal

23 April 2026 16:39 (UTC +04:00)

Prime Minister of Lebanon Nawaf Salam has urged the Trump administration to pressure Israel to scale back its demands and end its military invasion of the country.

In an interview with the Washington Post, Salam said Lebanon could not sign any agreement that does not include a “full withdrawal” of Israeli forces.

“We cannot live with a so-called buffer zone,” he said, “an Israeli presence where Lebanese displaced people are not allowed to return, where destroyed villages and towns cannot be rebuilt.”

The prime minister called for extending a shaky ceasefire brokered by the United States that expires at the end of this week, following the example of President Donald Trump, who has extended the ceasefire between the United States and Iran.

So far, efforts to hold a second round of U.S.-Iran peace talks have failed. Lebanese and Israeli diplomats, however, are due to hold their second bargaining session on Thursday at the State Department. It is the first time in decades that Lebanese and Israeli officials are bargaining directly in a U.S.-led bid toward potentially normalizing relations, which Hezbollah has long rejected.

Israel has said the ceasefire, which includes provisions in its favor, will not stop its military operations against Hezbollah.

Lebanon hopes to prolong the initial 10-day ceasefire, eventually secure an Israeli military withdrawal, and allow more than a million displaced people to return home. Some have already ventured back to the south, but Israel has warned residents not to cross into the Lebanese villages it now controls.

The 72-year-old prime minister, who is a former president of the International Court of Justice in The Hague, said the U.S. role as a mediator is crucial.

“We are entering these negotiations convened by the U.S. convinced that the U.S. is the party that can have leverage over Israel,” Salam said Wednesday after meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron. “Their role was critical in reaching the ceasefire, and we hope they will continue exercising their leverage over Israel.”