Geagea Slams Judiciary over Summoning Following Beirut Clashes

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rai met on Friday Army Commander General Joseph Aoun. (Photo: Maronite Patriarchate)
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rai met on Friday Army Commander General Joseph Aoun. (Photo: Maronite Patriarchate)
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Geagea Slams Judiciary over Summoning Following Beirut Clashes

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rai met on Friday Army Commander General Joseph Aoun. (Photo: Maronite Patriarchate)
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rai met on Friday Army Commander General Joseph Aoun. (Photo: Maronite Patriarchate)

Lebanese Forces Leader Samir Geagea has criticized the military judiciary and accused it of aligning with Hezbollah.

Earlier this week, Geagea was summoned for questioning over street tension that erupted on Oct. 14 during a rally called for by Amal movement and Hezbollah to demand the removal of Tarek Bitar, the judge investigating last year’s powerful Beirut port explosion.

Seven people were killed and dozens were wounded during the clashes.

Fadi Akiki, a representative of the military court, had “instructed the army intelligence to summon Geagea and take his statement based on information provided by arrested LF members.”

In television remarks on Thursday, Geagea denied being informed of the summons, expressing his readiness to give his statement to Akiki, provided that the latter “listens to Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah” before him.

Local media reported on Friday that State Prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat has suspended State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Fadi Akiki’s decision to summon Geagea.

However, Oueidat’s office denied the reports, noting that Akiki’s decision is “being followed up by the relevant authorities to determine whether the interrogation should happen at the Intelligence Directorate or before the judge who tasked the Intelligence Directorate with hearing the LF leader’s testimony.”

“No timeframe has been set” for the authorities’ deliberations, the office added.

During his television appearance, Geagea referred to Akiki as “Hezbollah’s commissioner.”

“It appears that the main party in the Ain al-Remmaneh events [referring to Hezbollah] considers itself above the law, and unfortunately the military judiciary has kept up with it so far,” he remarked.

In parallel, Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rai underlined his support for the independence of the Judiciary and rejected what he described as “discretion” in dealing with the Beirut port explosion and the Tayyouneh events.

Rai received on Friday Army Commander General Joseph Aoun, to whom he affirmed “absolute support for the military institution and the independence of the judiciary, and the necessity of the investigation to include all parties without discretion.”

Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Rai “does not cover any perpetrator, and calls for justice for all,” but also stresses the need to hold all perpetrators accountable.



28 Palestinians Including Children Killed in Israeli Airstrikes in Gaza

Palestinians inspect the destruction at a makeshift displacement camp following a reported incursion a day earlier by Israeli tanks in the area in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza strip on July 11, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
Palestinians inspect the destruction at a makeshift displacement camp following a reported incursion a day earlier by Israeli tanks in the area in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza strip on July 11, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
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28 Palestinians Including Children Killed in Israeli Airstrikes in Gaza

Palestinians inspect the destruction at a makeshift displacement camp following a reported incursion a day earlier by Israeli tanks in the area in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza strip on July 11, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
Palestinians inspect the destruction at a makeshift displacement camp following a reported incursion a day earlier by Israeli tanks in the area in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza strip on July 11, 2025. (Photo by AFP)

Israeli airstrikes killed at least 28 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, including four children, hospital officials said Saturday.

The children and two women were among at least 13 people who were killed in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, after Israeli airstrikes pounded the area starting late Friday, officials in Al-Aqsa Martyr's Hospital said. Another four people were killed in strikes near a fuel station, and 15 others died in Israeli airstrikes in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, according to Nasser Hospital.

The Israeli military said in a statement that over the past 48 hours, troops struck approximately 250 targets in the Gaza Strip, including militants, booby-trapped structures, weapons storage facilities, anti-tank missile launch posts, sniper posts, tunnels and additional Hamas infrastructure sites. The military did not immediately respond to The Associated Press' request for comment on the civilian deaths.

The Hamas-led group killed some 1,200 people in their Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and abducted 251. They still hold 50 hostages, less than half of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.

Israel’s offensive has killed over 57,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry, which is under Gaza’s Hamas-run government, doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count. The UN and other international organizations see its figures as the most reliable statistics on war casualties.

US President Donald Trump has said that he is closing in on another ceasefire agreement that would see more hostages released and potentially wind down the war. But after two days of talks this week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu there were no signs of a breakthrough.