The head of the Lebanese Forces Party, Dr. Samir Geagea, slammed the recent positions of Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, saying that speaking on behalf of the so-called ‘axis of resistance’ and setting plans to counter US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel violated Lebanese sovereignty.
“I want to stop at one point in Nasrallah’s speech; it’s that he does not speak only on behalf of Hezbollah, but on behalf of the whole ‘resistance axis’, which he says has recently aborted conspiracies in Arab countries, especially in Syria, and is now setting comprehensive plans to address the issue of Jerusalem,” Geagea said, in an interview with Asharq al-Awsat.
“Contrary to Nasrallah’s view on confronting conspiracies in Arab countries, and in Syria specifically, I believe that the ‘axis of resistance’ is the one behind the biggest conspiracy by supporting [Bashar] Assad’s regime and helping it survive for seven years now,” he added.
Geagea criticized Hezbollah’s leader for “speaking on behalf of the axis of resistance in the entire region, and calling on them to draw up the necessary plans to confront the Trump decision on Jerusalem.
“I want to remind Nasrallah that the Lebanese land is sovereign, and sovereignty is exclusive to the Lebanese State, and that we are not interested in any plans and confrontations except for those set by the Lebanese State,” the LF leader stressed.
“The president of Lebanon is not called the ‘axis of resistance’ but Michel Aoun, and we have the government and its president, Saad Hariri, and Parliament and its speaker, Nabih Berri. For us, these constitutional institutions are the ‘axis of resistance’; there is nothing else called ‘axis of resistance’. The Lebanese people gave these institutions the exclusive exercise of sovereignty over the Lebanese territory,” Geagea firmly said.
The LF leader underlined the important role of the Lebanese Army in defending the country.
“We must not forget that there is the Lebanese Army, which has proved to have great capacity and high effectiveness, on some occasions when it was given the chance to act,” he noted.
Asked about the recent adoption of the policy of dissociation and whether the government would succeed in its implementation, the Lebanese political leader said: “Yes, there is the possibility of applying the policy of dissociation because everyone knows that if they pressure Prime Minister Hariri again, he will do what he did the previous time; he will resign…because he cannot bear unbalanced policies emanating from Lebanon.”
On whether he believes that there was a realistic solution to Hezbollah’s weapons, Geagea said: “I firmly believe that Hezbollah’s weapons should not be linked with large axes; they must be purely Lebanese, contrary to what many believe.”
“The first step we must make as a political authority is to decide that these weapons should be placed in the hands of the Lebanese government, especially that Hezbollah and many of the parties are represented in the government, and then we reach a plan to put these weapons under the authority of the Lebanese army,” he stated.
Geagea pointed out to the recent developments in Iraq, noting that as soon as the country declared the end of the war against ISIS, Moqtada al-Sadr announced the dissolution of his military wing “Saraya al-Salam” and the handing over of arms to the state.
“That’s the logic. Mr. Sadr stressed that the logic of the State must prevail,” he said.
Moving to the upcoming parliamentary elections, the LF leader said it was too soon to talk about electoral alliances, stressing that his party would engage in the elections under the slogan of the establishment of a sovereign effective state.
“Until now, I don’t consider that there is an actual state in Lebanon, because not all strategic decisions are made within the state,” he said.
The second electoral slogan for the Lebanese Forces is the issue of fighting corruption, according to Geagea.
“This has been our slogan since our first participation in the government; we will continue to work towards this purpose and we will run the parliamentary elections on this basis,” he stressed.
