The head of the Lebanese Forces Party, Samir Geagea, warned in an interview with the Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper “against the behavior of the Lebanese authorities that is turning a blind eye to the dangers resulting from the Iranian-Israeli war that is taking place on Lebanese soil,” stressing the need to take a historic position that restores the concept of the state and paves the way for a ceasefire,” considering that “the concept of the statelet that Hezbollah’s performance represented led Lebanon to the current situation” , warning that we “are heading towards more killing, death and disasters,” explaining that “Lebanon has become like a ship without a captain and without a rudder in a turbulent sea.”
He continued: “There is a devastating war raging in the region, and what is happening in Lebanon is one of its chapters. The war is between Iran and its proxies in the region on the one hand, and between Israel and the United States behind it, and behind them all of Europe and other countries. Instead of making every possible effort to get Lebanon out of this war, we act as if nothing happened,” adding: “Lebanese officials are acting based on their narrow considerations, and have turned into a (relief committee).” Today, if we want to summarize the type of authority in Lebanon, we can say that it is a (relief committee) and not a government or a state.”
Geagea regretted how Hezbollah’s affairs changed after the assassination of its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, considering that “when Mr. Nasrallah was present, I used to believe that somewhere there was a Lebanese opinion on what was happening that he expressed, and that he had a say in the Iranian decision, but now, the decision has become completely Iranian, and the remaining combat groups of Hezbollah are led by Iranian officers, and thus a complete Iranian decision, and through it the war is waged according to the complete Iranian interest.”
Geagea considered that “Hezbollah has not collapsed organizationally, despite all the strikes, pointing out that “the party’s combat groups in the south are fighting with a non-central decision, and a large part of them are still present, and we must not forget that the relationship is close with Iranian officers, and the religious doctrine, and for this reason Iran will continue the fight until the last fighter.”
Geagea pointed out that the party’s military structure has been damaged as is apparent, according to studies conducted in European and even Israeli centers, the party was supposed to launch between 2,000 and 3,000 rockets daily at Israel, but we see that this is not happening. Unfortunately, there is a known and clear balance of power. The Iranians will continue the fight with whoever remains on Lebanese soil and with the youth of Lebanon. The confrontation is now led by Iran, and the evidence is that the Iranian Foreign Minister and the Speaker of its Parliament visited Lebanon within one week, as if they were here to supervise the battle.
Geagea stated that “last summer, when the US Special Envoy Amos Hochstein came to Lebanon and proposed implementing Resolution 1701, The officials were (waking up a button) and abandoning their responsibilities. I personally spoke with more than one official, and I was alerting them that things were going in the direction we see today, but they did not respond.”
Geagea believed that “the political authority forgot, and made us forget with it, that it is capable of doing everything. The government must meet and say that it does not accept the continuation of what is happening, and take a decision to deploy the army and announce its intention to implement Resolution 1701, regardless of the Israeli position, because we must start from somewhere. It must present a serious declaration of intent, and I am not saying that the government should ask the army to clash with Hezbollah, but it must start somewhere… and this must start with a decision, because the decision-makers have abandoned their decision, and we have seen what it has caused.” He stressed the need for “the government to meet immediately and take appropriate decisions, and the parliament must meet and make a recommendation to support the government in its position to restore the Lebanese decision.”
Geagea responded to some of the criticism directed at him for demanding the implementation of Resolution 1559, which stipulates the dismantling of armed militias, saying: “This has been our logic for 20 years, and it is not a new logic. Those responsible for the state are the ones who delayed adopting this discourse. We presented our proposal to stop the war, and they did not like it. Let them present us with their proposal. So far, there is no international envoy in Lebanon to discuss how to end the war, and that is why we must move in an attempt to stop this destructive war.”
Translated from an Arabic article in El Nashra
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