Who is Nawaf Salam, the man named Lebanon’s new Prime Minister?

Appointment of the jurist, diplomat and academic to the post of prime minister marks a new chapter in Lebanon’s political landscape

Nawaf Salam will arrive in Beirut on Tuesday to meet President Joseph Aoun. Photo: ICJ

Nawaf Salam was named as Lebanon’s newest Prime Minister on Monday, bringing an end to more than two years of political paralysis. His appointment finally cuts loose ex-PM Najib Mikati’s cabinet, which officially resigned in 2022 but remained in a caretaker capacity until a new head-of-state could be elected.

Mr Salam’s appointment means he must forsake his post as president of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, to which he was elected for a three-year term in February 2024.

Support for Mr Salam illustrates a major break in the power balance of Lebanon's sectarian politics, after Hezbollah, the most dominant faction in Lebanon’s governance, took a beating in a war with Israel last year, its Syrian ally Bashar Al Assad was toppled and its supporter Iran’s geopolitical standing plummeting as a result.

With Mr Al Assad gone and Hezbollah considerably weakened politically and militarily, many hope Mr Salam’s appointment will start a new chapter in Lebanon's history. In only five years, the small country has been marred by war, major economic collapse, and deep distrust and dissatisfaction with the ruling classes.

In the wake of Lebanon's 2019 economic collapse, which led to the resignation of several governments, his name was frequently raised by opposition groups as an independent candidate for the position of prime minister.

His designation, along with the election of Gen Joseph Aoun to Lebanon’s presidency, marks a new era in Lebanese politics following years of deadlock. Still, as with many Lebanese officials elected to high government stations, Mr Salam comes from a somewhat dynastic, prominent political family; many of his relatives have played key political roles in Lebanon's history. His grandfather, Salim Salam, was the deputy of Beirut in the Ottoman parliament in 1912. His uncle Saeb Salam, who is regarded as one of the country's founding fathers, and his cousin, Tammam Salam, each served as prime minister.

Despite his dynastic background, those close to Mr Salam describe him as a reformist and a moderate intellectual. The diplomat, jurist, academic and now Prime Minister became involved in pro-Palestinian and leftist circles during his university years in the 1970s – a time when the world experienced a vibrant wave of student movements.

His friend, political scientist Karim Bitar, described him to The National in February as a “well-read multidisciplinary intellectual, familiar with sociology, history and political science, and an avid reader, who always has a reformist bend and cares about Lebanon's Arabic identity”.

Professor to judge

Mr Salam began his teaching career in the late 1970s as a history professor at Sorbonne University in Paris, then at Harvard Law School in Boston and the American University of Beirut, where he taught international relations and law.

In the 1990s, alongside teaching, Mr Salam dedicated himself to bringing about change in Lebanon, with a focus on transcending sectarianism towards a civil state and reforming the electoral code and the judicial system.

In 2007, Mr Salam moved to New York, where he served for 10 years as Lebanon’s permanent representative to the UN.

“Having taught international relations for 20 years, it felt like an opportunity to bridge the gap between theory and practice,” he told The National of his time at the UN last year.

During his term, he consistently advocated respecting UN Resolution 1701 for border stability in south Lebanon, establishing the Special Tribunal for Lebanon for former prime minister Rafik Hariri's assassination, and defending Palestinian rights.

In 2017, he was appointed a judge at the ICJ by the UN General Assembly and the Security Council. Mr Salam was the first Lebanese and the second Arab to head the UN's World Court, created in 1945 to settle disputes between states.

Despite Lebanon's continuing crisis, wrecked financial sector and political paralysis, Mr Salam has said he remains resolutely optimistic about his country's future.