Lebanese Forces Leader Samir Geagea accused some parties of using the file of the displaced in order to normalize relations with Syria and revive the regime of President Bashar Al-Assad.
In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, Geagea said: “We are currently witnessing the biggest political scheme by blaming us of impeding the return of displaced persons to their country.”
Emphasizing that the LF supported the unconditional return of the refugees, he said that the main reason for normalizing relations with Syria under the pretext of resolving the displaced file was aimed at reviving the rule of Assad.
He noted that the Syrian regime president “does not appear to be willing to secure their return at a time when Syria is undergoing a demographic change.”
Geagea stressed that Iran was working to reinforce Assad, and that Hezbollah was seeking to market this strategy, “for the simple reason that Tehran has invested in the regime and spent billions of dollars… and therefore cannot allow it to weaken or to be lost due to the negative repercussions on Iran’s internal arena.”
“We will maintain communication with the international community to secure safe areas in Syria,” he said.
The LF leader underlined that the organized campaign to normalize relations between the two countries came in the context of the previous campaign led by Foreign Affairs Minister Gebran Bassil to invite Syria to attend the Arab Economic Summit hosted by Lebanon.
“The pretext of normalizing the relations between the two countries as a condition for the return of the displaced is an open attempt to use this file to lift the Assad regime; otherwise Assad would have already invited the displaced to return,” Geagea remarked, adding that the Syrian president was the first to assert that their presence in hosting countries comforted him internally.
