Salam: Lebanon-US-Israel accord a framework not treaty
Shafaq News- Beirut
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said the accord reached with Israel and the United States in Washington is a "tripartite guiding framework" for negotiations, not a binding agreement or treaty.
In an interview with LBCI TV, Salam said the document produces political commitments rather than legal obligations.
The framework was signed on June 26 in Washington by Lebanese and Israeli representatives with US mediation, following five rounds of indirect and direct talks. It outlines a phased Israeli military withdrawal from southern Lebanon tied to the disarmament of “non-state armed groups.”
Salam also said Lebanon is documenting the Israeli violations of international law connected to the conflict, and Beirut “has not given up its right to pursue cases before international courts but has, for now, suspended that option.”
On Hezbollah, the prime minister said the government does not seek an armed confrontation but will not yield to pressure or step back from its position that weapons should be held exclusively by the state.
Israel and Hezbollah have fought intermittently since October 2023, with Israel later launching a broader invasion of southern Lebanon. The Washington framework followed that escalation and set the terms under which Beirut and Israel are now negotiating.
Salam said Lebanon's priority in the coming rounds of negotiations under the framework is establishing a timeline for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanese territory.
