Prime Minister Tammam Salam on Thursday urged Lebanon's friends to help in ending the long-running presidential vacuum, noting that the solution “is not in the hands of the Lebanese alone.”
“The sharp regional polarization has turned into an open conflict across the region. Therefore, realism obliges us to admit that the solution to the presidential void problem in Lebanon is not in the hands of the Lebanese alone,” Salam told the annual meeting of the U.N. General Assembly in New York.
“I send out an appeal to all of Lebanon's friends and to all those who are keen on preventing the emergence of a new tense zone in the Middle East to help Lebanon elect a president in order to restore the balance of our state institutions and protect the Lebanese model of coexistence,” the premier added.
Turning to the refugee crisis, Salam underlined that "the Syrian presence in Lebanon is of a temporary nature."