Wafiq Safa, the head of Hezbollah’s Coordination and Liaison Unit declared Sunday that his party does not have a “veto” on electing Army chief Joseph Aoun as president.
“The only veto is on (Lebanese Forces leader) Samir Geagea, because he stands for a project of destruction and strife for the country,” Safa said, from the site of the airstrike that killed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in Dahieh on the Sep. 27, 2024.
“Hezbollah is stronger and firmer than steel and it is stronger than before,” Safa claimed.
“Hezbollah’s capabilities have been repaired and it has the ability to confront any attack in the way it sees appropriate and let no one test us anymore,” Safa went on to say, noting that “Speaker Nabih Berri will have a talk with U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein over the Israeli violations.”
Hezbollah will decide after 60 days :
Asked about Hezbollah’s reaction if the Israeli army does not withdraw from Lebanon after the 60-day deadline, Safa said: “The Lebanese Army and the monitoring committee have not been informed of this matter, but after the 60 days expire, the issue will be left to Hezbollah and the resistance to decide what to do
MP Michel Dhaher blasted Safa over his comments about Geagea
MP Michel Dhaher
“We condemn the language of treason in which he spoke about the head of the Lebanese Forces Party, Samir Geagea.” He asked: “Is this the language we will use to build the country? Doesn’t such talk lead to strife, especially after the scene of how we embraced the displaced? Shouldn’t Safa ask who will shelter the displaced, again, if war breaks out again, God forbid?” He stressed that “we are tired of this language and this method. ‘We want a country.’”
The head of the foreign relations department of the Lebanese Forces Party, former Minister Richard Kouyoumjian, commented on Safa’s remark by stating “The only veto that the Iranian party has in Lebanon is on the project of establishing a real state,” stressing that “the head of the Lebanese Forces , honors those who believe in the state’s, identity, sovereignty, diversity and freedom, and you are not one of them, so do not even utter his name.”
Lebanon’s Shiite community suffered the most from the war between Hezbollah and Israel, which the Iranian-backed group initiated on October 8, 2023, to support Hamas in Gaza, another Iranian-backed proxy. Over one Million Shiites have been displaced and tens of thousands of their homes have been destroyed but they were embraced by all the Lebanese communities during the war, which Hezbollah initiated with the aim of enhancing Iran’s influence in the region. Neither Iran nor Syria helped Hezbollah during the war
Commenting on Safa’s remarks, prominent Lebanese analyst Ali Hussein told Ya Libnan. “Time for Hezbollah to pack up its military wing, which has been a disaster for Lebanon and the region and only served Iran’s interest. Time to also bury the Axis of resistance which didn’t liberate one square inch of Palestine and time for Hezbollah to focus only on its political wing in the parliament. The Lebanese in general and the Shiites in particular are tired of Hezbollah’s arrogance, miscalculations and failures and want to reclaim their country”