Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. (Credit: AFP)
After winning Parliament's vote of confidence, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam received a long series of congratulations and best wishes from numerous Lebanese and international political leaders.
On Wednesday, after two long parliamentary sessions, 95 MPs granted their confidence to Salam's government, 12 voted against, and four abstained. Most parliamentary blocs, including Hezbollah, which had not initially voted for Salam's appointment as prime minister, voted in favor of his government.
'More progress and prosperity'
The first foreign leader to congratulate Salam was the Crown Prince and de facto leader of Saudi Arabia, Mohammad bin Salman, who sent him a congratulatory letter, according to the Saudi state-run news agency SPA on Wednesday evening. In a statement released Thursday morning on the Lebanese state-run National News Agency (NNA), the Grand Serail's press office confirmed receiving the message from the Saudi prince.
The Crown Prince expressed his "sincere congratulations" as well as his "wishes for success and achievement" to Salam. He also wished the Lebanese people "more progress and prosperity." Saudi Arabia had significantly reduced its support for Lebanon in recent years due to Hezbollah's expanding role in Lebanon. However, the party emerged weakened after the recent war with Israel and the fall of its ally, Bashar al-Assad, in Syria, which facilitated the election, on Jan. 9, of Joseph Aoun, the United States and Saudi Arabia's favored candidate, to the presidency, after more than two years of stalemate.
A little over a month ago, the Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs, Faisal bin Farhan, visited Beirut, the first by a Saudi foreign minister to Lebanon in 15 years. From Baabda, he said that his country "stood by Lebanon" and expressed "confidence" in the ability of the new leaders to carry out reforms.
Aoun is due to travel to Saudi Arabia this Sunday for his first foreign visit since his election, according to a high-ranking diplomatic source contacted by L’Orient-Le Jour.
Hezbollah and Amal 'welcome' the confidence given to the government
On the Lebanese scene, Aoun was the first to send his congratulations to the new government, saluting "the government, its leader and its members" for winning the confidence of Parliament, before thanking "the Parliament, its leader and its members for fulfilling this constitutional duty."
"I appreciate the confidence of the MPs who granted it and respect the position of those who did not, as opposition in our democratic parliamentary system is a right, a duty, a necessity, and a responsibility," he declared, referring to the 12 votes against and the four abstentions counted during the vote.
Several Lebanese political figures and parties took the opportunity to congratulate the new tenant of the Grand Serail. In a joint statement, Hezbollah and the Amal Movement "welcomed the confidence granted by the Parliament to the new government" and "urged it to intensify its efforts by dedicating itself to the reconstruction of infrastructures destroyed by Israeli aggression in the afflicted regions," as well as to "initiate rehabilitation work and monitor the situation of displaced people, especially those from frontline villages," the statement said.
Former Lebanese President Michel Sleiman also welcomed the confidence granted by the MPs, adding that it should be accompanied by "the confidence of citizens in their state and of each citizen in one another."
"This confidence must, of course, be reinforced by the fight against the smuggling of weapons, money, people, drugs, and goods ... in addition to preventing Lebanon from becoming a tax haven," he added.
The Mufti Dar al-Fatwa, the highest Sunni religious authority in Lebanon, Abdellatif Derian, meanwhile, called Salam following the parliamentary session to wish him "success in advancing the country."
Other political figures and groups were keen to welcome the new tenant of the Grand Serail. Among them, the former minister and dean of the Maronite General Council, Wadih al-Khazen, welcomed this outcome "at a sensitive and delicate moment in the history of Lebanon, where the country is facing unprecedented challenges on the various economic, financial and social levels, in addition to the complex political situation that requires exceptional efforts and a strong will to emerge from the current crisis."
This article was originally published in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.