Hezbollah Grip on Lebanon Must End, Says Geagea

Samir Geagea, leader of the Lebanese Forces party, speaks to AFP during an interview at his residence in Maarab, north of the capital Beirut. (AFP)
Samir Geagea, leader of the Lebanese Forces party, speaks to AFP during an interview at his residence in Maarab, north of the capital Beirut. (AFP)
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Hezbollah Grip on Lebanon Must End, Says Geagea

Samir Geagea, leader of the Lebanese Forces party, speaks to AFP during an interview at his residence in Maarab, north of the capital Beirut. (AFP)
Samir Geagea, leader of the Lebanese Forces party, speaks to AFP during an interview at his residence in Maarab, north of the capital Beirut. (AFP)

Lebanon's hijacked sovereignty must be restored after an election denied the Shiite Hezbollah party a parliamentary majority, said Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea.

"All strategic decision-making should return to the Lebanese state... and security and military matters should be handled exclusively by the Lebanese army," he told AFP.

"No one... should be able to transport missiles from one place to another without the permission and knowledge of the military," the 69-year-old added, referring to Hezbollah.

Geagea's campaign for the May 15 election centered mainly on disarming Hezbollah, cementing his role as the movement's staunchest domestic rival.

The Iran-backed Shiite party, which held a majority in the outgoing parliament together with its allies, is the only militia to have not disarmed after the end of Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war.

Hezbollah, whose arsenal outguns the army's, is described by its supporters as a bulwark against enemy Israel, but it is blacklisted a "terrorist" organization by the US and other Western countries.

Detractors argue it undermines the state's decisions on security and exposes Lebanon to costly disputes, with Hezbollah deploying combatants and weapons across the region.

"No one should be allowed to use their weapons inside the country," said Geagea, who rose to prominence as a militia leader during the civil war.

"This is no longer acceptable," he said during an interview at his residence in Maarab, northeast of Beirut.

Anti-Hezbollah alliance

Lebanon's latest election yielded a polarized and fractured parliament that denied any single bloc a clear-cut majority.

Geagea's party clinched 18 seats, with an additional spot going to an allied lawmaker who is not a party member.

To challenge Hezbollah, Geagea is counting on alliances with other traditional powers opposed to it, including the Kataeb party, and the Progressive Socialist Party led by Druze leader Walid Jumblatt.

At least 13 independent lawmakers who emerged from an anti-government protest movement in 2019 could also bolster their ranks, said Geagea.

"We are in intensive talks" with them, he said.

"We agree at a minimum on the need to build an actual Lebanese state... away from corruption, clientelism, quotas, and private interests."

From Sunday, after the current assembly's mandate expires, the new lawmakers will have to pick a speaker, a position Nabih Berri has held since 1992.

Berri is expected to hold on to the post with the backing of Hezbollah and his Shiite Amal movement which, together, account for all Shiite lawmakers.

But Geagea called on incoming lawmakers to chart a new political path by selecting a speaker who would work to "preserve" the state's sovereignty.

"We can't nominate Berri at all because he is aligned with the other team," Geagea said, referring to Hezbollah.

Another hurdle set to face the new parliament is the process of forming a government, which could take months.

Geagea said he opposes plans for a "national unity" cabinet.

"We support a majority government that can be effective... and that agrees on a unified project," he said.

Lebanon is grappling with an unprecedented financial crisis widely blamed on corruption and mismanagement by a bickering ruling elite that has dominated the country since of the civil war.

The country has been battered by triple-digit inflation, soaring poverty rates and the collapse of its currency since a 2020 debt default.

International donors including the International Monetary Fund have preconditioned assistance on the implementation of key reforms.

"Our ties with Gulf Arab states will certainly be restored and Gulf aid will gradually flow to Lebanon," if a government is formed "that can inspire trust and confidence," said Geagea.

The swift formation of such a cabinet will also streamline IMF negotiations, he added.

The IMF and Lebanon in April struck a conditional deal for $3 billion in aid.

Enacting reforms, including a financial recovery plan which was approved by government on Friday, is one of many prerequisites for the package.

IMF talks are the "main entry point" for financial recovery, Geagea said.



Anxiety Clouds Easter for West Bank Christians

Residents of the West Bank town of Zababdeh say its church bells are often drowned out by the roar of Israeli air force jets headed for action nearby. - AFP
Residents of the West Bank town of Zababdeh say its church bells are often drowned out by the roar of Israeli air force jets headed for action nearby. - AFP
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Anxiety Clouds Easter for West Bank Christians

Residents of the West Bank town of Zababdeh say its church bells are often drowned out by the roar of Israeli air force jets headed for action nearby. - AFP
Residents of the West Bank town of Zababdeh say its church bells are often drowned out by the roar of Israeli air force jets headed for action nearby. - AFP

In the mainly Christian Palestinian town of Zababdeh, the runup to Easter has been overshadowed by nearby Israeli military operations, which have proliferated in the occupied West Bank alongside the Gaza war.

This year unusually Easter falls on the same weekend for all of the town's main Christian communities -- Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican --- and residents have attempted to busy themselves with holiday traditions like making date cakes or getting ready for the scout parade.

But their minds have been elsewhere.

Dozens of families from nearby Jenin have found refuge in Zababdeh from the continual Israeli military operations that have devastated the city and its adjacent refugee camp this year.

"The other day, the (Israeli) army entered Jenin, people were panicking, families were running to pick up their children," said Zababdeh resident Janet Ghanam.

"There is a constant fear, you go to bed with it, you wake up with it," the 57-year-old Anglican added, before rushing off to one of the last Lenten prayers before Easter.

Ghanam said her son had told her he would not be able to visit her for Easter this year, for fear of being stuck at the Israeli military roadblocks that have mushroomed across the territory.

Zabadeh's Anglican church was busy in the runup to Easter but across the West Bank Christian communities have been in sharp decline as people emigrate in search of a better life abroad.

Zabadeh looks idyllic, nestled in the hills of the northern West Bank, but the roar of Israeli air force jets sometimes drowns out the sound of its church bells.

"It led to a lot of people to think: 'Okay, am I going to stay in my home for the next five years?'" said Saleem Kasabreh, an Anglican deacon in the town.

"Would my home be taken away? Would they bomb my home?"

- 'Existential threat' -

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967 and in recent months far-right ministers in its coalition government have called for the annexation of swathes of the territory.

Kasabreh said this "existential threat" was compounded by constant "depression" at the news from Gaza, where the death toll from the Israel's response to Hamas's October 2023 attack now tops 51,000, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.

Work has been hard to find for Zababdeh's mainly Christian residents since Israel rescinded Palestinian work permits following the October 2023 attack by Hamas that sparked the Gaza war.

Zababdeh has been spared the devastation wreaked on Gaza, but the mayor's office says nearly 450 townspeople lost their jobs in Israel when Palestinian work permits were rescinded after the Hamas attack.

"Israel had never completely closed us in the West Bank before this war," said 73-year-old farmer Ibrahim Daoud. "Nobody knows what will happen".

Many say they are stalked by the spectre of exile, with departures abroad fuelling fears that Christians may disappear from the Holy Land.

"People can't stay without work and life isn't easy," said 60-year-old maths teacher Tareq Ibrahim.

Mayor Ghassan Daibes echoed his point.

"For a Christian community to survive, there must be stability, security and decent living conditions. It's a reality, not a call for emigration," he said.

"But I´m speaking from lived experience: Christians used to make up 30 percent of the population in Palestine; today, they are less than one percent.

"And this number keeps decreasing. In my own family, I have three brothers abroad -- one in Germany, the other two in the United States."

Catholic priest Father Elias Tabban insists the hard times his congregation has been going though have deepened their faith.

Catholic priest Elias Tabban adopted a more stoical attitude, insisting his congregation's spirituality had never been so vibrant.

"Whenever the Church is in hard times... (that's when) you see the faith is growing," Tabban said.