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Sami Gemayel to Asharq Al-Awsat: Catastrophic Govt. Settlement Handed Lebanon to Hezbollah

Head of the Kataeb party MP Sami Gemayel. (NNA)
Head of the Kataeb party MP Sami Gemayel. (NNA)
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Sami Gemayel to Asharq Al-Awsat: Catastrophic Govt. Settlement Handed Lebanon to Hezbollah

Head of the Kataeb party MP Sami Gemayel. (NNA)
Head of the Kataeb party MP Sami Gemayel. (NNA)

Head of the Lebanese Kataeb party MP Sami Gemayel warned that the ruling class was leading Lebanon to the brink of collapse, warning that officials were not lifting a finger to rectify the situation.

Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, he blamed the political settlement, which led to the election of Michel Aoun as president in 2016, for leading Lebanon to its current “catastrophic” state of affairs.

He held his former allies, Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat and Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, for the current situation in Lebanon because they were part of the “disastrous” settlement.

The settlement, added Gemayel, allowed Hezbollah to take control of Lebanon.

“The current political class is covering for Hezbollah and is implementing the party’s policies, whether in defending it at international arenas or justifying its internal policies,” he continued.

“We believe that a government which is clearly controlled by Hezbollah must not be granted confidence,” he remarked.

In such a government, he explained, the party dictates its strategic decisions, allows illicit deals to be struck over economic affairs and holds direct sway over defense and foreign affairs.

The Kataeb party did not grant confidence to such a government, which was formed by a settlement that effectively gave power to Hezbollah and embroiled Lebanon in regional conflicts against the people’s will, said Gemayel.

“Some people do not want to admit to this reality. The truth is very clear. For the first time in Lebanon’s history, the president of the republic is not invited to visit the United States, any of the Arab states and any other country,” he noted. This is dangerous as it reveals that Lebanon has become a side in an ongoing conflict.

“When the government remains silent over every challenge from Lebanese territory against Arab or foreign countries and all of Lebanon’s historic friends, then this means that this government is complicit,” the MP remarked.

“We should no longer remain silent over such practices,” he demanded.

This is only the political aspect, he said. “We haven’t even started to discuss the massive failure on the economic and financial levels.”

“In the past, Lebanon could rely on aid and markets that would be opened for us. Now, we have to deal with sanctions, restrictions and unusual cash flows because Lebanon is being used to smuggle fuel to Syria,” he stated.

“Everyone must be held to account for this reality,” he stressed.

He therefore demanded that the government no longer be labeled as “national unity”, adding that all of its members who oppose its policies must resign.

“Remaining in power means that they are wronging the country and people,” the MP said without naming any names.

Gemayel proposed a Kataeb “roadmap” to amend the situation in Lebanon. He demanded that officials must first acknowledge their shortcomings and resign. This should be followed with the formation of a government of experts who can implement the reforms that the current government is unable to carry out.

This starts with fist controlling Lebanon’s land, sea and air borders. All illegal crossings must be shut to end smuggling.

The second step, he said, calls for ridding public institutions of all “fake positions” that are the greatest burden on the economy and finances. He explained that tens of thousands of people are registered as employees and earn salaries without even heading to work.

The electricity sector is another massive drain on the economy. Officials have not been able to resolve this issue for over 20 years because they are abusing the sector for their own personal enrichment, charged Gemayel.

The problem in Lebanon is that officials know what must be done, but they are not lifting a finger, he stated. “We have also lost friends who used to stand by our side after some parties insulted and threatened them. The irony is that they want to challenge and threaten the world and then ask it for help and money,” he noted.

“We have reached the edge of the abyss and no one has yet to slam on the brakes,” he warned. They speak of reform, but instead of implementing them, they are now blaming each other.

“We have no choice but to either carry out reform or resign and leave this responsibility for people who are serious about their work,” he stated.

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Interviews

Goldrich to Asharq Al-Awsat: No US Withdrawal from Syria

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat
US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat
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Goldrich to Asharq Al-Awsat: No US Withdrawal from Syria

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat
US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich has told Asharq Al-Awsat that the US does not plan to withdraw its forces from Syria.

The US is committed to “the partnership that we have with the local forces that we work with,” he said.

Here is the full text of the interview.

Question: Mr. Goldrich, thank you so much for taking the time to sit with us today. I know you are leaving your post soon. How do you assess the accomplishments and challenges remaining?

Answer: Thank you very much for the chance to talk with you today. I've been in this position for three years, and so at the end of three years, I can see that there's a lot that we accomplished and a lot that we have left to do. But at the beginning of a time I was here, we had just completed a review of our Syria policy, and we saw that we needed to focus on reducing suffering for the people in Syria. We needed to reduce violence. We needed to hold the regime accountable for things that are done and most importantly, from the US perspective, we needed to keep ISIS from reemerging as a threat to our country and to other countries. At the same time, we also realized that there wouldn't be a solution to the crisis until there was a political process under resolution 2254, so in each of these areas, we've seen both progress and challenges, but of course, on ISIS, we have prevented the reemergence of the threat from northeast Syria, and we've helped deal with people that needed to be repatriated out of the prisons, and we dealt with displaced people in al-Hol to reduce the numbers there. We helped provide for stabilization in those parts of Syria.

Question: I want to talk a little bit about the ISIS situation now that the US troops are still there, do you envision a timeline where they will be withdrawn? Because there were some reports in the press that there is a plan from the Biden administration to withdraw.

Answer: Yeah. So right now, our focus is on the mission that we have there to keep ISIS from reemerging. So I know there have been reports, but I want to make clear that we remain committed to the role that we play in that part of Syria, to the partnership that we have with the local forces that we work with, and to the need to prevent that threat from reemerging.

Question: So you can assure people who are saying that you might withdraw, that you are remaining for the time being?

Answer: Yes, and that we remain committed to this mission which needs to continue to be pursued.

Question: You also mentioned the importance of humanitarian aid. The US has been leading on this. Are you satisfied with where you are today on the humanitarian front in Syria?

Answer: We remain committed to the role that we play to provide for humanitarian assistance in Syria. Of the money that was pledged in Brussels, we pledged $593 million just this past spring, and we overall, since the beginning of the conflict, have provided $18 billion both to help the Syrians who are inside of Syria and to help the refugees who are in surrounding countries. And so we remain committed to providing that assistance, and we remain keenly aware that 90% of Syrians are living in poverty right now, and that there's been suffering there. We're doing everything we can to reduce the suffering, but I think where we would really like to be is where there's a larger solution to the whole crisis, so Syrian people someday will be able to provide again for themselves and not need this assistance.

Question: And that's a perfect key to my next question. Solution in Syria. you are aware that the countries in the region are opening up to Assad again, and you also have the EU signaling overture to the Syrian regime and Assad. How do you deal with that?

Answer: For the United States, our policy continues to be that we will not normalize with the regime in Syria until there's been authentic and enduring progress on the goals of resolution 2254, until the human rights of the Syrian people are respected and until they have the civil and human rights that they deserve. We know other countries have engaged with the regime. When those engagements happen, we don't support them, but we remind the countries that are engaged that they should be using their engagements to push forward on the shared international goals under 2254, and that whatever it is that they're doing should be for the sake of improving the situation of the Syrian people.

Question: Let's say that all of the countries decided to talk to Assad, aren’t you worried that the US will be alienated in the process?

Answer: The US will remain true to our own principles and our own policies and our own laws, and the path for the regime in Syria to change its relationship with us is very clear, if they change the behaviors that led to the laws that we have and to the policies that we have, if those behaviors change and the circumstances inside of Syria change, then it's possible to have a different kind of relationship, but that's where it has to start.

Question: My last question to you before you leave, if you have to pick one thing that you need to do in Syria today, what is it that you would like to see happening today?

Answer: So there are a number of things, I think that will always be left and that there are things that we will try to do, to try to make them happen. We want to hold people accountable in Syria for things that have happened. So even today, we observed something called the International Day for victims of enforced disappearances, there are people that are missing, and we're trying to draw attention to the need to account for the missing people. So our step today was to sanction a number of officials who were responsible for enforced disappearances, but we also created something called the independent institution for missing persons, and that helps the families, in the non-political way, get information on what's happened. So I'd like to see some peace for the families of the missing people. I'd like to see the beginning of a political process, there hasn't been a meeting of the constitutional committee in two years, and I think that's because the regime has not been cooperating in political process steps. So we need to change that situation. And I would, of course, like it's important to see the continuation of the things that we were talking about, so keeping ISIS from reemerging and maintaining assistance as necessary in the humanitarian sphere. So all these things, some of them are ongoing, and some of them remain to be achieved. But the Syrian people deserve all aspects of our policy to be fulfilled and for them to be able to return to a normal life.