Gemayel Says Will Paralyze Presidential Election If Candidate Supports Hezbollah’s Weapons

Samy Gemayel (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Samy Gemayel (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Gemayel Says Will Paralyze Presidential Election If Candidate Supports Hezbollah’s Weapons

Samy Gemayel (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Samy Gemayel (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The leader of Lebanon’s Kataeb party, Samy Gemayel, on Friday threatened to “paralyze” the Lebanese presidential election if Hezbollah’s candidate plans to “protect the weapons” of the Shiite party.

Gemayel’s threat, which was made during an address to Kataeb's 32nd general congress, will hardly be effective if he does not coordinate with the rest of Lebanon’s opposition forces.

“Today’s battle isn’t against a certain group of Lebanese. It is against the existential threat which affects Lebanese Christians and Muslims alike,” said Gemayel, adding that the fight was against a group that is seeking to destroy the country by promoting sectarian strife.

“We are witnessing a blow to the judiciary, institutions, freedom of expression and free media, and we want to preserve the freedom of our country and its identity, but we will not succeed unless we are united,” added Gemayel.

Moreover, Gemayel launched veiled criticism of Hezbollah’s Christian ally, the Free Patriotic Movement.

He accused the Lebanese party of handing over the country to Hezbollah under the false pretext of protecting Christians.

“We were only able to achieve the withdrawal of the Syrian army when we united in Martyrs' Square, and we will not preserve Lebanon unless we all unite,” stressed Gemayel.

Gemayel also emphasized that there is a shadow state, controlled by Hezbollah, vying for control over Lebanon.

“It is no longer possible for us to submit to the will of (Hezbollah) in Lebanon, and we call on all Lebanese to shoulder their responsibilities,” said Gemayel.

Lebanon has been without a president since Oct. 31, when the mandate of Michel Aoun— an ally of Hezbollah — came to an end. The country has also been governed by a caretaker cabinet since May 2022, while 11 parliamentary sessions have failed to elect a president.



Israeli Army Orders Gaza City Suburb Evacuated, Spurring New Displacement Wave

A Palestinian man points at a damaged building in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on November 20, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
A Palestinian man points at a damaged building in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on November 20, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
TT

Israeli Army Orders Gaza City Suburb Evacuated, Spurring New Displacement Wave

A Palestinian man points at a damaged building in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on November 20, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
A Palestinian man points at a damaged building in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on November 20, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

The Israeli military issued new evacuation orders to residents in areas of an eastern Gaza City suburb, setting off a new wave of displacement on Sunday, and a Gaza hospital director was injured in an Israeli drone attack, Palestinian medics said.
The new orders for the Shejaia suburb posted by the Israeli army spokesperson on X on Saturday night were blamed on Palestinian militants firing rockets from that heavily built-up district in the north of the Gaza Strip.
"For your safety, you must evacuate immediately to the south," the military's post said. The rocket volley on Saturday was claimed by Hamas' armed wing, which said it had targeted an Israeli army base over the border.
Footage circulated on social and Palestinian media, which Reuters could not immediately verify, showed residents leaving Shejaia on donkey carts and rickshaws, with others, including children carrying backpacks, walking.
Families living in the targeted areas began fleeing their homes after nightfall on Saturday and into Sunday's early hours, residents and Palestinian media said - the latest in multiple waves of displacement since the war began 13 months ago.
In central Gaza, health officials said at least 10 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes on the urban camps of Al-Maghazi and Al-Bureij since Saturday night.
HOSPITAL DIRECTOR WOUNDED BY GUNFIRE
In north Gaza, where Israeli forces have been operating against regrouping Hamas militants since early last month, health officials said an Israeli drone dropped bombs on Kamal Adwan Hospital, injuring its director Hussam Abu Safiya.
"This will not stop us from completing our humanitarian mission and we will continue to do this job at any cost," Abu Safiya said in a video statement circulated by the health ministry on Sunday.
"We are being targeted daily. They targeted me a while ago but this will not deter us...," he said from his hospital bed.
Israeli forces say armed militants use civilian buildings including housing blocks, hospitals and schools for operational cover. Hamas denies this, accusing Israeli forces of indiscriminately targeting populated areas.
Kamal Adwan is one of three hospitals in north Gaza that are barely operational as the health ministry said the Israeli forces have detained and expelled medical staff and prevented emergency medical, food and fuel supplies from reaching them.
In the past few weeks, Israel said it had facilitated the delivery of medical and fuel supplies and the transfer of patients from north Gaza hospitals in collaboration with international agencies such as the World Health Organization.
Residents in three embattled north Gaza towns - Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun - said Israeli forces had blown up hundreds of houses since renewing operations in an area that Israel said months ago had been cleared of militants.
Palestinians say Israel appears determined to depopulate the area permanently to create a buffer zone along the northern edge of Gaza, an accusation Israel denies.
Israel's campaign in Gaza has killed more than 44,000 people, uprooted nearly all the enclave's 2.3 million population at least once, according to Gaza officials, while reducing wide swathes of the narrow coastal territory to rubble.
The war erupted in response to a cross-border attack by Hamas-led militants on Oct. 7, 2023 in which gunmen killed around 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.