Nawaf Salam responds to Hezbollah: The decision of war and peace is solely in the hands of the Lebanese government.

The Lebanese Prime Minister, Nawaf Salam, stated on Friday that the decision of war and peace is owned by the government, emphasizing that there is no "opinion from any party" on this matter.

This came a day after "Hezbollah" sent a letter to Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, Speaker of the Parliament Nabih Berri, and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, affirming its legitimate right "to resist occupation and aggression and to stand by our army and our people to protect the sovereignty of our country."

Salam added, during the Lebanon Summit on Technology and Artificial Intelligence held in Beirut, "We said that the decision of war and peace has been reclaimed by this government, and no one has an opinion on it other than the government."

The Prime Minister emphasized "the necessity of working to confine arms to the state."

Under Israeli and American pressures, the Lebanese government approved on August 5 the confinement of arms to the state, including "Hezbollah."

The government welcomed a plan put forth by the Lebanese army to implement the decision, but did not specify a timeline for its application, a step that observers considered an attempt to appease the party and its base.

Salam described the Israeli escalation as "very dangerous," noting that Lebanon "continues to mobilize all possible Arab and international political and diplomatic support to put an end to this escalation, ensure the complete Israeli withdrawal from our land, halt hostile operations, and release the prisoners."

In the latest attacks, the Israeli army launched a series of airstrikes on several southern towns in Lebanon on Thursday, following warnings to citizens to evacuate in the widest alert since the agreement came into effect, amid a notable escalation along the borders that has been ongoing for weeks.

These attacks are part of Israel's violations of the ceasefire agreement that has been in effect since late November 2024, which ended an aggression launched by Tel Aviv against Lebanon in October 2023 that escalated into a full-scale war in September 2024, resulting in more than 4,000 deaths and over 17,000 injuries.