Lebanon’s fractured parliament named Nawaf Salam prime minister on Monday, handing the country’s political reins to the prominent diplomat and international jurist as Lebanon emerges from a devastating war and tries to recover from a devastating economic collapse.
Mr. Salam was endorsed by a majority of lawmakers in the country’s 128-seat parliament on Monday, after which Lebanon’s newly elected president, Joseph Aoun, asked him to form a government. Mr. Salam currently serves as head of the International Court of Justice, the United Nations’ highest court, and previously served as Lebanon’s ambassador to the United Nations.
The choice of Mr. Salam was widely seen as a major political blow to Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group and political party that has served as the real power in Lebanon for decades. For much of that time, almost no major political decision could be made without Hezbollah’s support.
But Monday’s vote offered a rebuke to that status quo, elevating Mr. Salam – opposed by Hezbollah – and inflicting a stunning defeat on the Hezbollah-backed candidate. For many, it underscored Lebanon’s new political reality: Since emerging from a 14-month war with Israel, Hezbollah no longer has an iron, unshakable grip on the Lebanese state.
In just over two months, Israel assassinated the group’s top leaders. The war left billions of dollars in damage across the country. Hezbollah also lost its main ally in neighboring Syria, dictator Bashar al-Assad, who was toppled by rebels last month. And its patron, Iran, is now on the back foot after the web of its anti-Israeli militias was exposed. These developments have opened a new political chapter in Lebanon, analysts say.
“The whole political dynamic has changed,” said Sami Nader, director of the Political Science Institute at Saint Joseph University in Beirut. “It’s a total collapse of the old way of doing things.”
The Lebanese state is made up of a multitude of factions and sects seeking power and influence. For years, it has been controlled by a weak and ineffective caretaker government. Hezbollah was both part of this government and the dominant political and military force, guiding virtually all major decisions of the country.
In recent days, Lebanon’s shifting political sands have been revealed in a flurry of political developments that have underscored how much political ground Hezbollah has lost.
Last week, the Lebanese parliament elected Mr. Aoun as the country’s new president — ending more than two years of political stalemate that critics had blamed on Hezbollah. Then on Monday, Mr. Salam – whom Hezbollah had repeatedly blocked from becoming prime minister in recent years – won the support of 85 members of the country’s 128-seat parliament. Outgoing prime minister backed by Hezbollah, Najib Mikati, secured only nine votes. Thirty-five ballots were cast blank.
After the vote, a senior Hezbollah lawmaker, Mohammad Raad, told reporters at a news conference that Hezbollah had “stretched out its hand” in supporting the election of Mr. Aoun, to be “cut” on Monday, according to local media. exhibitions.
The new government emerging in Lebanon also reflects realignment of power dynamics across the Middle East, analysts say. The era of Iranian dominance in Lebanon appears to be over, they say, creating an opening for Gulf states that had competed with Iran unsuccessfully in Lebanon for years.
Saudi Arabia and Western countries have supported Mr. Salam and Mr. Aoun, and many inside Lebanon hope the new government they lead will bring an influx of capital from those countries as Lebanon grapples with a billion-dollar reconstruction bill from the war between Hezbollah and Israel.
“The Arab countries are on board, there is a possibility that Lebanon will be welcomed back into the Arab family,” said Mr. Nader. “It’s an incredible change. You can feel the weakening of Iran.”
