Lebanese PM says Israel needs to withdraw from southern Lebanon

Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said Israel needs to withdraw from parts of Lebanon that it still occupies for the first phase of Hezbollah's disarmament to take place, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

Salam said he is open to other countries looking into Hezbollah's arms depots in southern Lebanon.

He also said the country will look at other options for the United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon with members of the UN Security Council later this week.

He added that if Israel adhered to a 2002 Arab peace plan, then normalisation would follow, but they were nowhere close to that yet.