Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has visited a town in southern Lebanon that his government is to take control of from occupying Israeli forces, Al Jazeera reports.

The premier was quoted as saying, “The return of life to the south is not merely a slogan but a national objective to which the state is committed.”

Salam shared the comments in a video on X from Zawtar al-Gharbiya, one of three towns that are in the first phase of a “pilot zone” project that is part of a larger framework agreement between Lebanon and Israel signed in Washington, DC, last month.

Salam said the Lebanese government’s goal was “the complete Israeli withdrawal from all our territories”.

“What we are witnessing today is merely the beginning, but we are determined and steadfast, and we will continue to mobilise all our political and diplomatic efforts to secure a complete withdrawal from all Lebanese territory,” he said.