The Lebanese Forces and Kataeb parties slammed Hezbollah and its secretary general Hassan Nasrallah over his recent statements that undermine Lebanon’s sovereignty and independence.
LF leader Samir Geagea said Nasrallah “crossed all lines” during his latest speech when he “dismissed the Lebanese people as having no memory, history, presence or role to play.”
During a speech marking the one year killing of top Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani, Nasrallah had declared that Lebanon is strong due to Hezbollah. “If anyone were to ask about Lebanon and sense its presence on the map, then that is due to the resistance [Hezbollah] and its weapons.”
“The resistance is the only side capable of protecting Lebanon’s oil wealth through its weapons and Iranian and Syrian support,” he boasted.
Geagea condemned the remarks, saying Nasrallah “is deluded because Lebanon is at its lowest point and weakest it has ever been in history.”
Addressing Nasrallah, he added: “We do not want you to safeguard Lebanon or protect its rights. All we want from you is to refrain from attacking Lebanon and the Lebanese people.”
“Lebanon has never had its sovereignty, its people so humiliated, Arab and western friendships so violated as it is today and it is all because of Nasrallah’s resistance,” he added.
Nasrallah, Geagea continued, “did not commit an error, but rather a sin against Lebanon, its people and history. Whenever the world now mentions Lebanon, it refers to it as a failed state or a constant environment for tension and terrorism when in the past it was deemed the ‘Switzerland of the Middle East’.”
Referring to clashes from the 1975-90 Lebanese civil war, Geagea asked Nasrallah: “Where were you during the hundred-day siege of Ashrafieh, which lies adjacent to the southern Beirut suburbs [a Hezbollah stronghold] when it came under Syrian shelling?”
“Where were you when the Syrian army surrounded Tripoli and pounded it with rockets and artillery and tank fire and committed the most atrocious massacres?” he wondered.
“Nasrallah was standing by the side of those attacking the Lebanese people, allying himself with those who were destroying Lebanese cities and villages, as he is only concerned about regions he believes fall under his control,” Geagea added.
The Kataeb politburo said that Hezbollah’s weapons “are illegitimate and have never protected Lebanon in the past and will never protect it today, rather they are exposing it to all forms of isolation and sanctions.”
The arms are now “the guardians of the daily waves of provocations that start with the posting of images and statues of Soleimani in Lebanon and end with the systematic defamation campaigns on social media.”
“Such campaigns aim to deepen the division between the Lebanese, drag them towards hate speech and war rhetoric,” it added. “The presidency, government and parliament are meanwhile, idly watching and providing cover to those seeking to take over Lebanon as it collapses.”
“The recent Iranian announcement that it will use the rockets it has sent to Hezbollah and use the country as the first line of defense in a conflict with Israel is proof of the bitter reality that Lebanon and the Lebanese are Iran’s hostages. Any other attempt to explain such a statement is futile,” it continued, demanding that Tehran’s envoy be summoned for clarifications.
