Lebanon appoints Nawaf Salam, a diplomat and jurist, as prime minister

Lebanon’s fractured parliament appointed Nawaf Salam as prime minister on Monday, handing the country’s political reins to a prominent diplomat and international lawyer as Lebanon emerges from a devastating war and tries to recover from a severe economic collapse.

Mr. Salam was backed by a majority of lawmakers in the country’s 128-member parliament on Monday, after which Lebanon’s newly elected president, Joseph Aoun, asked him to form a government. Mr. Salam currently serves as the head of the International Court of Justice, the highest court of the United Nations, and previously served as Lebanon’s ambassador to the United Nations.

Mr. Salam’s selection was widely seen as a major political blow to Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group and political party that has been the real power in Lebanon for decades. For most of that time, almost no major political decision could be made without Hezbollah’s support.

But Monday’s vote offered a rebuke to that status quo, elevating Mr. Salama – opposed by Hezbollah – and inflicting a stunning defeat on a Hezbollah-backed candidate. For many, it underscored Lebanon’s new political reality: since emerging from a 14-month war with Israel, Hezbollah no longer has an iron, unyielding grip on the state of Lebanon.

In just over two months, Israel assassinated the group’s top leaders. The war left billions of dollars in damage across the country. Hezbollah also lost its main ally in neighboring Syria, dictator Bashar al-Assad, who was ousted by rebels last month. And its patron, Iran, is now on the back foot after its network of anti-Israel militias unraveled. The development opened a new political chapter in Lebanon, analysts say.

“The whole political dynamic has changed,” said Sami Nader, director of the Institute of Political Science at Saint Joseph University in Beirut. “It’s a complete collapse of the old modus operandi.”

The Lebanese state is made up of many factions and sects fighting for power and influence. For years it has been controlled by a weak and ineffective interim government. Hezbollah was both part of that government and the dominant political and military force, effectively guiding almost all major decisions in the country.

In recent days, Lebanon’s political quicksand has been laid bare in a flurry of political events that have underscored how much political ground Hezbollah has lost.

Last week, the Lebanese parliament elected Mr. Aoun as the country’s new president — overcoming more than two years of political gridlock that critics attributed to Hezbollah. Then on Monday Mr. Salam — repeatedly blocked by Hezbollah from becoming prime minister in recent years — won the support of 85 members of the country’s 128-member parliament. The outgoing Hezbollah-backed prime minister, Najib Mikati, secured just nine votes. Thirty-five ballots remained blank.

After the vote, a senior Hezbollah lawmaker, Mohammad Raad, told reporters at a press conference that Hezbollah had “stretched out its hand” in supporting Mr. Aoun’s election, only to have its “hand cut off” on Monday, according to local media reports.

The new government emerging in Lebanon also reflects a realignment of power dynamics across the Middle East, analysts say. The era of Iranian influence over Lebanon appears to be over, they say, making room for Gulf countries that have unsuccessfully competed with Iran in Lebanon for years.

Saudi Arabia and Western countries have backed Mr. Salam and Mr. Aoun, and many inside Lebanon hope the new government they lead will bring an influx of funds from those countries as Lebanon struggles with billions of dollars to rebuild from the war between Hezbollah and Israel.

“The Arab countries are participating, there is a possibility that Lebanon will be welcomed back into the Arab family,” Mr. Nader said. “It’s an incredible change. You can feel the weakening of Iran.”