PM Salam visits Nabatieh: Let us all rally under the banner of our state

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam announced from Nabatieh that the Council for Development and Reconstruction has launched 23 tenders covering projects in the Nabatieh district, including clearing obstacles, repairing roads, rehabilitating shelters, and providing ambulances, medical equipment, and wireless and satellite communications systems.

Salam said the council is also preparing to launch 12 additional tenders this month, including the rehabilitation of five hospitals, among them Nabatieh Governmental Hospital, as well as the supply of rescue and firefighting vehicles. Work is also underway to award contracts to rehabilitate power stations and water networks.

Salam spoke during a visit to Nabatieh, where he laid the foundation stone for a new Civil Defense headquarters. He said the Council of the South had completed damage assessments and debris removal ahead of construction of the new facility.

“I understand the scale of the crisis. I know how exhausted you are, and I understand the suffering of those who lost their homes, their jobs or their livelihoods, and those waiting to repair their houses, return to their towns and rebuild their lives,” Salam said.

“But the scale of the needs exceeds the capabilities of the Lebanese state and its ability to bear these burdens,” he added.

Salam said he was not in Nabatieh to offer false hopes or promises he could not fulfill, stressing that Lebanon still needs substantial funding.

“But I want you to trust that we are working, and will continue working, to secure everything we can to help the south recover,” he added.

Salam noted that the real guarantee for Lebanon is to simultaneously mobilize as much support and resources as possible to achieve Israel’s complete withdrawal from Lebanese territory and rebuild the state.

He rejected the idea of waiting for a broader regional settlement, saying such an agreement may never materialize, could take years, or could come at Lebanon’s expense.

“Let us all rally under the banner of our state,” Salam said. “It grows stronger through our unity, and we grow stronger through it. It is our first and last refuge, and the only guarantee of our security, stability, and our children’s future.”