Salam urges Security Council expansion, veto restrictions
Salam, in his address to the General Assembly in New York, stressed the need to avoid “the vacuum that could result from the withdrawal of UNIFIL forces if it were to take place without an agreement on a new international force to replace them.” He explained that any successor arrangement must ensure the continuation of monitoring, reporting and communication tasks while supporting the implementation of the framework accord.
Following the U.S. and Israeli push to end UNIFIL’s mandate, Lebanon has been working to either secure an extension of the mission or establish a new international force under U.N. auspices to ensure continuity of its monitoring and security role.
Salam said Lebanon engaged in negotiations with Israel “to achieve arrangements” that would guarantee the end of the nearly three-year war and allow the country to recover its complete sovereignty.
“We want it [the war] to end, we want the cease-fire to be consolidated, and we want Israel to withdraw from all Lebanese territory up to our internationally recognized borders, in accordance with the 1949 Armistice Agreement, as reaffirmed by [U.N. Security Council] Resolution 1701,” he said.
Lebanon, he added, seeks the release of all its prisoners captured by Israel during the war, the return of displaced people to their villages, and reconstruction of areas devastated by intensive Israeli attacks.
The war broke out when Hezbollah opened a support front for Gaza on October 8, 2023. The militant group resumed limited attacks against Israel on March 2, 2026, in solidarity with Iran, after which Israel launched a much broader military campaign in Lebanon.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry reported that Israeli attacks have killed 8,953 people and wounded 30,649 since October 8, 2023, including 4,386 killed and 12,413 wounded since last March. The conflict has caused massive destruction to property and infrastructure, with some 70 border villages in southern Lebanon reduced to rubble and rendered uninhabitable.
Salam called on the international community “to shoulder its responsibilities in ensuring respect for Lebanon’s sovereignty” and the implementation of international resolutions.
He emphasized, however, that his country’s future must not “be decided on its behalf,” and its security and stability must not be “the price paid for settlements reached in its absence.”
“It is true that Lebanon is affected by developments in its surroundings, but that does not mean we accept that it once again becomes a battleground for others’ conflicts or a bargaining chip in their hands,” he said.
Salam said there can be “no sustainable stability in Lebanon without sustainable stability in our region, and there can be no stability in the region” as long as the U.N. remains unable to enable the Palestinian people to exercise “their inalienable right to self-determination.”
On reforming the United Nations, Salam said the process must begin with the Security Council, whose basic composition has remained “a prisoner of a historical moment” dating to the end of World War II. He called for an expansion that would provide for “more comprehensive and equitable representation,” saying Africa and the Arab world can no longer remain without permanent representation on the council, nor can “small and medium-sized states remain mere spectators to decisions concerning their security and future.”
While acknowledging that reforming the Security Council — which has been entrusted with the “primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security” — is a “complex matter,” Salam called for restricting the use of the veto when it comes to “genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and serious violations of international humanitarian law.”