Under Israeli bombardment, Lebanon urges Trump to intervene

By Nick Paton Walsh, Natalie Wright, and Sarah Dadouch, CNN

Beirut (CNN) — The prime minister of Lebanon made an urgent appeal Thursday to President Donald Trump to intervene in the cause of peace, calling for an immediate ceasefire and direct talks with Israel.

Nawaf Salam told CNN in an exclusive interview that he sought a ceasefire “yesterday, not tomorrow,” as the death toll from Israel’s onslaught against the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah reached 1,000. More than 100 of the dead are children, according to Lebanese officials.

Asked what his message for Trump would be, Salam said: “To help put an end to the Lebanese conflict. I would like to reaffirm to President Trump our readiness to enter into immediate negotiations.” He called the US a “strategic partner” and said Trump “more than anyone else” could “play a decisive role” in ending the war.

“So we call on a greater engagement of the US. I mean direct contact. We are ready for negotiations with Israel,” the prime minister said.

The prospect of a negotiated end to the conflict in Lebanon, which began 17 days ago when Hezbollah fired projectiles into Israel to avenge the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, has dissipated over the past 48 hours as Israel’s military campaign has focused on a wider ground invasion. France has suggested some ideas for a settlement, Salam said, and there are contacts with US officials. Yet he shied away from suggesting actual talks have begun.

One of the likely sticking points will be that Lebanon does not recognize the state of Israel. Pressed three times on whether such a concession was possible in any peace deal, Salam declined to directly offer the move, and he blamed the lack of progress on Israel’s failure to respond to Lebanese overtures.

“We have been for two weeks extending our hands to have direct talks with the Israelis. So far, we haven’t received an agenda from the Israelis,” he said. Once Lebanon has a “clear agenda” from the Israelis, “then I will definitely answer your question,” he added.

Salam, widely respected as a statesman and key to the government’s renewed pledge to disarm Hezbollah, said Lebanon lacks the military capacity to do so and urgently needs military aid for its army. But he rejected any involvement by foreign troops and insisted that Lebanese territorial integrity was central to a peace deal.

Israel has pushed farther into Lebanon in the past week, and concerns are mounting it seeks to create a deeper “buffer zone” along the border. Israeli forces are occupying the land south of the Litani River, an area it has called on Lebanese to evacuate.

“We cannot accept any buffer zone, security zone, any infringement on our sovereignty,” Salam said. “We cannot negotiate any form of treaty, deal or arrangement with Israel (before our) sovereignty is fully restored.”

Salam expressed grave concerns over the growing humanitarian crisis of a million Lebanese displaced by Israel’s campaign and its evacuation orders, which now impact all of southern Lebanon below the Zahrani River, as well as much of southern Beirut.

“That’s almost 20%, if not 25%, of the Lebanese population,” he said. “These people are also the victims of the war. This war has been imposed on us. We didn’t seek it, we didn’t choose it, and now our main objective is how to end it. Lebanon is turned into a battlefield of the war between Israel and Iran.”

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