Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea strongly attacked Sunday the ruling authority and Hezbollah, saying that the current situation in Lebanon was caused by the Mar Mikhael agreement signed between Hezbollah and the Free Patriotic Movement, headed back then by current President General Michel Aoun.
“Instead of Hezbollah falling within the confines of the state, the state entered more and more under Hezbollah. Every opportunity for the establishment of an actual state was destroyed, and relations between the Lebanese groups became tense .. and Lebanon fell into an unprecedented Arab and international isolation,” Geagea said.
The LF leader’s comments came at the end of the annual memorial Mass in commemoration of the "Martyrs of the Lebanese Resistance", which was held Sunday at the Lebanese Forces general headquarters in Maarab, under the auspices of Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rai, represented by Bishop Antoine Nabil Al-Andari.
Geagea defended Rai, who some accused of dealing with Israel after he proposed the Lebanon neutrality initiative.
He demanded Hezbollah hand over the decision of war and peace to the state and stop its blatant, unjustified interference in the affairs and concerns of more than one Arab country.
“The time has come for Hezbollah to take the difficult but right decision by placing itself at the service of Lebanon, its people, its security and its interests, instead of remaining in the service of the Islamic Republic and its interests, at the expense of the people of Lebanon, their security, stability, livelihood, present, and future,” the LF leader said.
He lamented how "the Lebanese state today is captive to the existing alliance between the weapons system on one hand, and the system of corruption on the other hand," adding that "this infernal alliance has depleted the state's financial, economic, and human capabilities."
Geagea also considered that the October 17 uprising changed the course of events and mentalities, but it will not bear fruit without a clear roadmap.
“After the early parliamentary elections, we will be before a new parliament, a new government, and a new authority...and when the hour of the presidential elections strikes, we will have a word, a decision, and a position, and we will not accept that this election be subject to bargaining, deals, and a means of striking the unbridled popular will that is yearning for change," he said.
