Geagea Slams Syria’s ‘Remnants,’ Says State has No Strategic Decision-Making
Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea said on Saturday that Lebanon’s decision-making on strategic affairs is “confiscated” by the “remnants” of the Syrian regime.
“There are still remnants of the (Syrian) hegemony era” in Lebanon, Geagea said in a speech.
“Strategic decision is confiscated and Constitutional deadlines are not respected,” he said in a indirect reference to Hizbullah.
The release on bail of former Information Minister Michel Samaha is a clear sign on the presence of such remnants in Lebanon, Geagea stated.
Samaha, a close ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, was released on bail last month despite being convicted on terrorism charges.
The move angered the anti-Syrian March 14 camp in Lebanon.
Geagea spoke following a mass that was celebrated at his residence in Maarab on the 22nd anniversary of the Our Lady of Deliverance Church bombing.
Geagea was arrested in 1994 and served time in jail for allegedly masterminding the deadly bombing of the church in Zouk Mikael.
He was also sentenced to life in jail over his alleged involvement in assassinations during the Civil War. But he was released in 2005 when parliament passed an amnesty law after the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon.
Geagea said that after Lebanon’s Civil War ended in 1990 and the arms of militias “were handed over to the authorities, the Syrian regime began replacing the true Lebanese state with the state of hegemony.”
“Unfortunately all officials did what the Syrian regime wanted except for the LF,” he said.
“Dictatorships like the Assad regime cannot tolerate the LF and cannot tolerate opposition against it,” he added.
Geagea recounted that during the era of hegemony, the Syrian regime arrested LF officials under any excuse. Then it assassinated three LF officials.
“The Syrians later resorted to attempts to assassinate me and then tried to frame the LF by committing crimes and accusing it,” said Geagea.
Geagea stressed that the Syrian-Lebanese security system carried out the church bombing.
He also said that despite no evidence in LF’s involvement in the crimes it was accused of, the party was dissolved.
I'm sure our little friend SSNPBidjohn is rushing to explain how Mr the President Hafez Assad, his Moukhabarat, their local agents, the Lebanese pro Syrian security apparatus and fellow travelers are the real victims in this.