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Geagea: Aoun Is Worst President in Lebanon’s History

Geagea delivers his speech. (Lebanese Forces)
Geagea delivers his speech. (Lebanese Forces)
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Geagea: Aoun Is Worst President in Lebanon’s History

Geagea delivers his speech. (Lebanese Forces)
Geagea delivers his speech. (Lebanese Forces)

Head of the Lebanese Forces Samir Geagea launched on Sunday a scathing attack against President Michel Aoun and his son-in-law, head of the Free Patriotic Movement MP Gebran Bassil, calling for the election of a president who will save Lebanon from its crisis.

Speaking an LF event commemorating its martyrs, Geagea described Aoun as the “weakest president in Lebanon’s history.”

“He sacrificed his people and nation for his personal gain,” he declared.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rai sponsored the event that included opposition figures, but notably absent were representatives of the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) of Walid Jumblatt.

“They have their Lebanon and we have ours. Their Lebanon is that of the resistance [Hezbollah] and their allies and which we are now living in,” continued Geagea.

“Our Lebanon is the one we witnessed briefly during the independence revolution,” he added.

“Their Lebanon is one of chaos, destruction, ruin, poverty and the non-state. Ours is a Lebanon of construction, order, progress, civility, prosperity and the state,” he stressed.

“Theirs is a Lebanon of humiliating queues at gas stations and bakeries and lack of medicine, electricity, and water. Theirs is a Lebanon of stealing the people’s deposits, smuggling and manufacturing of Captagon and solidarity and cooperation with the Syrian regime,” he added.

Their Lebanon prioritizes the interests of Hezbollah, not the Lebanese people, Geagea remarked.

On the upcoming presidential elections, he said: “They are obstructing the formation of a new government and as ever, are planning to obstruct the elections.”

“Of course, this is not aimed at proposing a specific reform plan, but to elect Gebran Bassil or any one of his allies as president to succeed Aoun,” he went on to say.

He slammed Bassil for claiming to “protect the rights of Christians,” saying it is a “lie” and that “no one has harmed Christians more than them. No has pushed Christians to immigration more than them.”

“We will not agree to any change in Lebanon’s identity and message. We will not agree to keep our country isolated and alien from its Arab fold or the international community,” he vowed.

“We will confront any project that will steer Lebanon away from its identity, past and history and threaten its existence, future and people,” he pledged.

“We want the election of a strong president, even if some believe that the theory of the strong president no longer stands. Our current president isn’t strong, but the weakest in Lebanon’s history,” he stated.

Aoun had long labeled his presidential tenure as the “strong term.”

“The people are counting the days until the end of the current term. We want a president who would challenge anyone who would deign to take a sovereign decision at the expense of the state, whether it comes to war and peace or its foreign policy,” Geagea remarked.

Aoun's term ends in October.

“We want a president who would defy everyone who brought us to this point and who would embark on saving Lebanon. This is the responsibility of the parliament that will elect the new president,” Geagea stressed.

“The elections are not decided by foreign powers or regional and international equations. They are a product of the internal will and vote of 128 lawmakers,” he continued.

“The first step in Lebanon’s salvation lies in the election of a salvation president,” he added.

Turning to the PSP, Kataeb party and Change MPs, he said: “We must seize the opportunity at hand so that we will not be held responsible for keeping our country and people in the pits of hell. History will not be kind to us.”

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Arab World

Israel Demolishes Gunmen’s Homes in West Bank Operation That Has Displaced Thousands

Smoke, dust and debris rise as the Israeli army demolishes two houses with explosives in connection with an Oct. 23 shooting attack that killed two Israeli soldiers, in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, Friday, Oct. 30, 2026. (AP)
Smoke, dust and debris rise as the Israeli army demolishes two houses with explosives in connection with an Oct. 23 shooting attack that killed two Israeli soldiers, in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, Friday, Oct. 30, 2026. (AP)
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Israel Demolishes Gunmen’s Homes in West Bank Operation That Has Displaced Thousands

Smoke, dust and debris rise as the Israeli army demolishes two houses with explosives in connection with an Oct. 23 shooting attack that killed two Israeli soldiers, in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, Friday, Oct. 30, 2026. (AP)
Smoke, dust and debris rise as the Israeli army demolishes two houses with explosives in connection with an Oct. 23 shooting attack that killed two Israeli soldiers, in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, Friday, Oct. 30, 2026. (AP)

Israel demolished on Friday the homes ‌of the assailants who killed two Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron last week, part of an ongoing operation that has forcibly displaced over 3,000 Palestinians.

After the October 23 attack, in which both gunmen were killed, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the Israeli military to launch a large-scale operation in areas near the checkpoint, triggering protests by Palestinian residents.

Palestinian officials have accused Netanyahu of using the operation to drum up support ahead of a general election in Israel on Tuesday. Israel's government says its operation is a response to the attack ‌on its soldiers.

In ‌a statement announcing the demolitions, Israel's military said it ‌would "continue ⁠to operate proactively ⁠and offensively" to thwart attacks in the West Bank and "protect residents in the area".

The homes demolished on Friday had been occupied by the wives and children of the gunmen before the military forced Palestinians to leave the area over the past week, according to local residents.

The military has also demolished other homes as well as shops, roads, and factories in Hebron since ⁠the attack, according to local officials, though the exact ‌scale of the demolitions is unclear.

It has ‌closed most entrances to the city, severely curtailing freedom of movement for Palestinians, including people ‌in need of medical attention.

UN human rights chief Volker Türk ‌said this week that the displacement of residents raised "grave concerns of unnecessary and disproportionate use of force" and that "threats to empty and erase entire neighborhoods also raise serious concerns of ethnic cleansing."

Netanyahu's government has presided over a rapid expansion of settlements, deemed ‌illegal by UN bodies and most countries, though Israel disputes this.

Under Netanyahu's right-wing coalition there has also ⁠been a surge of ⁠militant settler violence against Palestinians.

In Kafr Malik near Ramallah on Friday, Reuters witnesses documented militant Israeli settlers shoving Palestinians and preventing farmers from harvesting their olives, while the Israeli military was present.

The Israeli military said it had responded to reports from Israeli settlers that Palestinians were throwing stones at them, and had arrested two Palestinians.

It did not address the reports of Israeli settlers attacking Palestinians. A Reuters witness present during the incident did not observe the Palestinians throwing stones.

Attacks have surged during the Palestinian olive harvest, which starts at the end of September and ends in November. The Israeli rights group Yesh Din reported at least 135 physical attacks on the olive harvest as of October 23.

Arab World

First Algerian Troops Arrive in Niger Where Extremists Threaten Stability

Algeria, which shares a border with Niger, has traditionally regarded stability in ‌the Sahel-Sahara ‌as an important regional security ‌priority. (Getty Images)
Algeria, which shares a border with Niger, has traditionally regarded stability in ‌the Sahel-Sahara ‌as an important regional security ‌priority. (Getty Images)
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First Algerian Troops Arrive in Niger Where Extremists Threaten Stability

Algeria, which shares a border with Niger, has traditionally regarded stability in ‌the Sahel-Sahara ‌as an important regional security ‌priority. (Getty Images)
Algeria, which shares a border with Niger, has traditionally regarded stability in ‌the Sahel-Sahara ‌as an important regional security ‌priority. (Getty Images)

An Algerian army ‌convoy has arrived in Niger in Algeria's first foreign troop deployment since it sent forces to support Egypt during the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.

Niger, like other countries in West Africa's Sahel region, is battling insurgents linked to al-Qaeda and ISIS.

Algeria, which shares a border with Niger, has traditionally regarded stability in ‌the Sahel-Sahara ‌as an important regional security ‌priority.

⁠Energy is an ⁠important focus for Algeria in Niger, where Algerian state-run oil and gas firm Sonatrach has investments.

One major project, the Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline with Niger and Nigeria, aims to deliver African gas to Europe ⁠and other international markets.

Reuters spoke ‌to 10 people ‌who said the first Algerian military convoy had ‌reached Arlit, a uranium mining town ‌in the country's northwest.

Algeria has said the decision to deploy troops was taken to protect the country's energy and economic interests, without disclosing ‌the size of the force or the timetable for their arrival.

Military ⁠officers ⁠have ruled Niger, which has uranium, oil and gold resources, since the July 2023 coup that ousted President Mohamed Bazoum, which Algeria initially opposed.

Arab World

Houthis Suspected of Recruiting Children, Young Men Amid Surge in Disappearances in Sanaa

Human rights reports accuse the Houthis of recruiting more children. (Local media)
Human rights reports accuse the Houthis of recruiting more children. (Local media)
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Houthis Suspected of Recruiting Children, Young Men Amid Surge in Disappearances in Sanaa

Human rights reports accuse the Houthis of recruiting more children. (Local media)
Human rights reports accuse the Houthis of recruiting more children. (Local media)

Disappearances of children and young men have surged in Yemen's Houthi-held capital Sanaa and its outskirts in recent weeks, fueling accusations that the Houthis are luring them into military camps, training them for combat and sending them to battlefronts without their families' knowledge or consent.

The cases have also raised fears among families of possible extortion, as authorities face accusations of failing to investigate the disappearances or disclose the fate of those missing.

Local human rights sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the unexplained disappearances have left residents increasingly alarmed, with children and young men vanishing from schools, streets and residential neighborhoods, sometimes without a trace.

Families have been left to search for their missing relatives on their own, turning to social media to appeal for information as Houthi-controlled security authorities ignore their reports, the sources said.

About 13 children and young men have disappeared from different parts of Sanaa since the start of October, the sources said. Most were aged between 15 and 23, and some were later found at Houthi military camps or on battlefronts after being lured into combat training without their families' knowledge or approval.

Hundreds of disappearances involving children and young men have been reported in Sanaa and other Houthi-controlled cities since the beginning of the year, the sources said. Some families remain in the dark about their missing relatives' whereabouts.

The sources accused Houthi security authorities of ignoring families' reports and appeals, compounding their distress and leaving those missing vulnerable to exploitation and recruitment.

The latest cases, reported over the past two days, involve Amjad Noman al-Sarouhi, 16, who vanished from the al-Ansi neighborhood in central Sanaa's Maeen district, and Mukhtar Abdullah Hassan al-Rifai, 22, who went missing near the Haziz market on the capital's outskirts.

Lured into military camps

Families' accounts have deepened fears that disappearances are being used to funnel children and young men into Houthi military camps, amid accusations that Houthi supervisors and recruitment brokers are exploiting their social and economic hardships to draw them into combat.

In one case, a family spent five days searching neighborhoods and hospitals for a minor who disappeared from Sanaa two months ago, only to learn from a Houthi supervisor that he was at a military camp north of the city.

A relative told Asharq Al-Awsat that the supervisor confirmed Houthi members had lured the boy into the camp and put him through combat training without his family's knowledge.

The relative described five days of fear and anguish as the family searched for the boy, worried he might have been harmed, before discovering he had been taken to a Houthi camp and subjected to military training without their consent.

For Mujeeb, a Sanaa resident and father of four, the disappearances have turned even routine outings into a source of fear.

"We live in constant fear for our children. We no longer feel at ease even when one of them steps out to run a simple errand," he said.

"We fear a Houthi member or supervisor could lure them away or exploit their needs and difficult living conditions, leaving us facing a situation we are powerless to change."

Mujeeb said families wanted their children kept safe and allowed to pursue their education and lead normal lives, free from recruitment and being sent to battlefronts.