Geagea: Mar Mikhael Agreement Reason Behind Lebanon Crisis

Geagea and his wife, MP Strida, attend the annual memorial Mass in commemoration of the "Martyrs of the Lebanese Resistance" on Sunday | NNA
Geagea and his wife, MP Strida, attend the annual memorial Mass in commemoration of the "Martyrs of the Lebanese Resistance" on Sunday | NNA
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Geagea: Mar Mikhael Agreement Reason Behind Lebanon Crisis

Geagea and his wife, MP Strida, attend the annual memorial Mass in commemoration of the "Martyrs of the Lebanese Resistance" on Sunday | NNA
Geagea and his wife, MP Strida, attend the annual memorial Mass in commemoration of the "Martyrs of the Lebanese Resistance" on Sunday | NNA

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.



Iraq's Kurdish Oil Exports Restart is Not Imminent

An oil field in Iraqi Kurdistan. Photo: Kurdistan government media/AFP
An oil field in Iraqi Kurdistan. Photo: Kurdistan government media/AFP
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Iraq's Kurdish Oil Exports Restart is Not Imminent

An oil field in Iraqi Kurdistan. Photo: Kurdistan government media/AFP
An oil field in Iraqi Kurdistan. Photo: Kurdistan government media/AFP

A restart of Iraq's Kurdish oil exports is not imminent, sources close to the matter said on Friday, despite Iraq's federal government saying on Thursday that shipments would resume immediately.

Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government have been in negotiations since February to end a stand-off that has halted flows from the north of the country to Türkiye's port of Ceyhan. The KRG was producing about 435,000 barrels per day (bpd) before the pipeline closure in March 2023, Reuters reported.

On Thursday the federal government said that Iraqi Kurdistan would resume oil exports immediately through the pipeline to Türkiye's despite drone attacks that have shut down half of the region's output.

But on Friday a source at APIKUR, a group of oil companies working in Kurdistan, said that a restart depended on the receipt of written agreements. Another at KAR Group, which operates the pipeline, said that no preparations had been made for a restart.

Baghdad and the companies have not yet agreed how to restart the exports, a KRG government source said, while a source at Türkiye's Ceyhan said there was also no preparation at the terminal for a restart of flows.

On Thursday, a statement from KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said the government had approved a joint understanding with the federal government and it was awaiting financial details.

Similar agreements in the past failed to secure a resumption in exports and it remains unclear if this deal will succeed.

Oil companies working in Kurdistan have previously demanded that their production-sharing contracts should remain unchanged and their debts of nearly $1 billion be settled under any agreement.

Oilfields in Iraqi Kurdistan have been attacked by drones this week, with officials pointing to Iran-backed militias as the likely source of the attacks, although no group has claimed responsibility.

They are the first such attacks on oilfields in the region and coincide with the first attacks in seven months on shipping in the Red Sea by Iran-aligned Houthi militants in Yemen.

On Thursday a strike hit an oilfield operated by Norway's DNO in Tawke, the region's counter-terrorism service said.

It was the week's second strike on a site operated by DNO, which operates the Tawke and Peshkabour oilfields in the Zakho area that borders Türkiye.

No casualties have been reported, but oil output in the region has been cut by between 140,000 bpd and 150,000 bpd, two energy officials said.