{"id":619083,"date":"2026-09-17T16:38:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T16:38:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/619083\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T16:38:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T16:38:21","slug":"fiery-row-erupts-in-lebanese-parliament-as-nawaf-salam-wins-confidence-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/619083\/","title":{"rendered":"Fiery row erupts in Lebanese parliament as Nawaf Salam wins confidence vote"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Lebanese Parliament gave a vote of confidence in Prime Minister Nawaf Salam\u2019s<\/a> government on Wednesday, 68-12, with two abstentions.<\/p>\n

Hezbollah lawmakers left the session without taking part in the vote, signaling their opposition to the government without voting against it. According to official statements and recordings of the session and two-day debate, there were heated exchanges involving other members of the Shi’ite bloc.<\/p>\n

Lebanese journalist Youssef Diab said he believed Hezbollah had chosen not to vote against the government and instead withdrew from the session \u201cto save face.\u201d<\/p>\n

In previous years, no democratic process or government plan could proceed without Hezbollah<\/a>\u2019s approval, he told Saudi Arabia\u2019s Al Hadath news channel. Hezbollah\u2019s inability to overturn the government would expose the extent to which it had been weakened, and therefore, withdrawing was preferable, he added.<\/p>\n

Indicating division in the Shi\u2019ite bloc, MPs from the Amal Movement voted for Salam\u2019s government. Some of them acknowledged that their vote had not reflected their personal views.<\/p>\n

\"Lebanon'sLebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri heads a parliamentary session at the headquarters in Beirut on March 9, 2026. (credit: FADEL ITANI\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Amal official Qablan Qablan said he was voting to give Salam\u2019s government a vote of confidence \u201cwith regret.\u201d<\/p>\n

MP: Hezbollah losses, refusal to transfer land to LAF ‘brings Israeli occupation’<\/p>\n

Although Salam opened and closed the session by discussing his government\u2019s commitment to financial and economic reform, asserting a state monopoly on weapons, the 2027 budget, reconstruction in southern Lebanon, and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the country, only the latter seemed to prompt heated outbursts and personal insults on the floor.<\/p>\n

Independent Lebanese MP Michael Moawad told Hezbollah lawmakers their losing of wars is what \u201cbrings Israeli occupation.\u201d Hezbollah\u2019s refusal to hand Ali Taher Ridge over to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) meant that he could be \u201chanded over to the Israelis,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHas the south been destroyed because Nawaf Salam is the head of government, or because Hezbollah has dragged us into war?\u201d Moawad asked, drawing numerous objections from both Amal and Hezbollah lawmakers. \u201cHezbollah decides on the war, and the government pays the price. Its losing wars have led to occupation. Hezbollah\u2019s refusal to disarm weakens the state in the face of Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

MP Ziad Hawat also accused Hezbollah of bringing the IDF back into the country, an accusation that was interrupted by Hezbollah MP Hussein Jachi, who shouted, \u201cSome of our colleagues think Israel is not an enemy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hezbollah continued to receive criticism from other lawmakers throughout the session. Hours after the initial confrontation, Tripoli-born Sunni MP Achraf Rifi and Hezbollah lawmakers argued over the position of Syrian<\/a> refugees in Lebanon and Hezbollah\u2019s involvement in the civil war.<\/p>\n

Hezbollah refuses to disarm, cede land to government forces<\/p>\n

Independent Beirut MP Paula Yakoubian also questioned why Hezbollah had not handed over areas of southern Lebanon without an Israeli presence to the LAF<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy doesn\u2019t Hezbollah hand over a map of its weapons to Lebanese negotiators so that they can secure an Israeli withdrawal and the return of displaced people?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n

Independent Beirut MP Ibrahim Mneimn\u00e9 said: \u201cWe hear criticism of Hezbollah, but after everything that has happened, they must acknowledge their responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lt.-Col. (res.) Sarit Zehavi, founder and president of the Alma Research and Education Center, told The Jerusalem Post the developments and widespread condemnations of Hezbollah in the Lebanese Parliament were not a surprise, especially given the widening rift between the pro- and anti-Hezbollah camps in Lebanon.<\/p>\n

While the recent vote and comments made during the session were important demonstrations of the attitudes held in Beirut, they did not change the fact that the Lebanese government had failed to take meaningful action to disarm Hezbollah and establish a monopoly over its weapons, she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Lebanese Parliament gave a vote of confidence in Prime Minister Nawaf Salam\u2019s government on Wednesday, 68-12, with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":619084,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[86,25601,85,46,11004,196851,9632,88,89,17514,43,4713],"class_list":["post-619083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-hezbollah","tag-hezbollah-disarmament","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-joseph-aoun","tag-lebanese-armed-forces","tag-lebanese-army","tag-lebanon","tag-lebanon-war","tag-nawaf-salam","tag-news","tag-syria"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=619083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/619084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=619083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=619083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=619083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}