Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea accused on Saturday Hezbollah of “setting Lebanon back a hundred years”, saying its weapons arsenal has “brought Israel to Lebanon”.
He made his remarks ahead of a highly-anticipated government meeting on Tuesday aimed at approving an executive mechanism to implement the “state monopoly over arms”. Hezbollah, meanwhile, has said laying down its weapons effectively means “handing over Lebanon to Israel.”
The government meeting is in line with the “broad lines set by President Joseph Aoun in his swearing in speech,” said Agriculture Minister Nizar Hani.
He told local radio that the speech set a timeframe for limiting the possession of weapons to the state.
This issue enjoys “broad political consensus among members of government. No one is expected to boycott the government meeting, including the Shiite duo of Hezbollah and Amal,” he added.
Geagea said that Hezbollah is adopting rhetoric “that is unintelligible to others and it, in turn, does not understand the rhetoric of the majority of the Lebanese people.”
Seventy-five percent of the Lebanese people do not want this reality that is imposed on them, but Hezbollah insists on it, he charged.
“Hezbollah’s actions have effectively set Lebanon back a hundred years, if not more,” he lamented.
Moreover, Geagea rejected claims that Hezbollah cannot lay down its arms as long as Israel continues to occupy some areas in the South. Hezbollah’s weapons and “the wars it has waged are the reason why Israel is in the South,” he stressed.
“Hezbollah claims that its weapons will force Israel out of the South, while in fact, the arms are the reason it is there,” he continued.
“Any hope for Israel to quit the South should be sought through other channels, because Hezbollah’s weapons have failed miserably,” he stated.
“Israel does not want to occupy Lebanon, not because it is an angelic country, but because this is not part of its strategy,” he explained.
Despite the challenges, Geagea said the “future still looks good even though Lebanon wasted the past six months due to its lax approach and delusions that it can hold dialogue with Hezbollah.”
He noted that the president enjoys full legitimacy and the parliament granted the government its vote of confidence twice. “So, now these authorities are demanded to work without waiting for Hezbollah’s reply, because it will not,” Geagea added.
“The Lebanese people are awaiting these authorities to take the desired decision to take Lebanon out of the hole that Hezbollah landed it in and to open the chapter of a new different future,” he said.
On the other side of the divide, Hezbollah MP Hussein Jishi said: “The government will tackle the issue of state sovereignty and the weapons. We believe in the state and want it to be strong. We want the weapons to be in its possession, but we have to ask: Where was the state in confronting the (Israeli) violations of the past eight months? What has it done? Has it defended its people?”
“We want a state that can defend its people. We support a state that possesses the weapons. But what kind of state is this that remains incapable against the enemy?” he wondered.
“The demand for the resistance (Hezbollah) to lay down its weapons without finding an alternative to it is effectively a blatant demand to surrender Lebanon to Israel,” he claimed.
