Gemayel Rules out Collapse of Hizbullah after Defeat of Syrian Regime
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Phalange leader Amin Gemayel criticized hopes by some opposition officials that Hizbullah’s power in Lebanon would fade with the collapse of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime.
“The analysis and the betting on the collapse of Syria and the weakening of Hizbullah or its surrender are naïve and irresponsible,” Gemayel told As Safir newspaper in an interview published on Tuesday.
“The issue of Hizbullah’s arms will not be resolved with a magic wand. The party will not react easily and without a price,” he said, reiterating that the Syrian situation does not have a major impact on the party’s arsenal.
“The collapse of the regime does not mean the collapse of the logic of Hizbullah and its capabilities in Lebanon,” Gemayel, who is a March 14 opposition member, added.
The former president called for benefitting from the events in Syria to unite the country and carry out a real reconciliation among its different factions, including Hizbullah.
“Syria won’t be stable for years to come…because the opposition is not capable of uniting effectively and coming under a single revolution leadership,” he warned.
“It would take a long time for democracy to take its course, for reconciliations to take place and for a new democratic system to be formed,” Gemayel said, adding “we will be effected by the Syrian situation.”
But he stressed that the Lebanese are aware of not heading towards civil war.
24 July 2012, 09:15
01
Regardless what you may think of Hizballah and how much you wish for their collapse, they are a major entity that has to be represented in Lebanon. You think they will just disappear? We have to talk them into giving up their weapons, and the only way to do that is secure our borders and lure them with political rewards. When Syria falls, not much will change in Lebanon, not for another decade at least.
24 July 2012, 16:43
03
The Party of God = Pervasive Cancer, pure and evil, unrelenting and undeterred, hell bent on cancelling at least 50% of the Lebanese population by any means necessary including and up to lies, propaganda, disinformation and terror tactics. They are belligerent, defiant and indifferent. Anyone who thinks otherwise is a card carrying member with the same exact disposition.
24 July 2012, 10:53
01
Be realistic ya 7elween .. as much as I like to see them kicked out and dragged in the streets like they are doing to others, we have to be realistic as this will not to happen overnight. Gemayel is right on this issue.
24 July 2012, 11:06
35
Four Star U.S General admits to American Foreign Policy Coup
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amDKQJS8uJ0&feature=my_watch_later_videos&list=WL920240D0C6CD20EC
24 July 2012, 11:12
64
So Gemayel is in favour of Hizballah undermining the Constitution of the Lebanese Republic. In any other, democratic, country he would be arrested for incitement at the least and at the worst, treason.
Once the pipeline through Syria is cut off, just how will Hizballah continue getting their military supplies, or perhaps Gemayel has his own ready for them.
24 July 2012, 16:09
33
phillipo, you are an alien to Lebanon, you should be arrested for treason. Sunnis and Shiite and Chiristian Lebanese are all 1 people, we are Lebanon together. Not Syria, not USA, not Israel and not Saudi Arabia will convince us to fight each other anymore. Gemayel is in favour of a strong and united Lebanon and anyone like you inciting violence on our Shiite brothers is a treaterous! Long live Lebanon--UNITED
24 July 2012, 20:12
03
Excuse me, but who exactly is trying to convince you that Shia, Sunni and Christians have to fight each other. It is necessary for dialogue to preserve the unity of the Republic of Lebanon, and the comments of Mr. GFemayel are not working in the direction of dialogue.
24 July 2012, 12:52
19
I want Hezbollah disarmed. If this can be achieved by diplomacy rather by civil war then I chose diplomacy and dialog as long as the dialog is kept moving reasonably forward. Gemayel's approach is to go easy on the fiery rethoric, which is a precondition to fruitful dialog. You can't start negotiations by insulting your counterpart and putting him on the defensive. You need to create the proper atmosphere. Nasrallah and by extension a significant number of Shias cannot lose face and be seen as the losers in this process. A successful outcome of a negotiation is always win-win. Any other result will create resentment in the party that got the short end of the deal. This will lead to a new conflict down the road. We need more cool-headed political thinking like Gemayel's.
24 July 2012, 13:24
41
@FT and Jabal. Very nicely said. Gemayel is right about he said. With attitudes like this, the country will be spared. @joesikemrex What are you threatening with? Peace or by force, what kind of a statement is that.
24 July 2012, 15:43
13
FT
your logic would be true if:
- hizbushaitan agenda was Lebanese and not iranian.
- what is there to negotiate with hizbushaitan? redistribute power in 3, with one third to Christians? we already lost enough don't you think?
what is the alternative? if it is war, we will have to go through it, as we have no other alternative. we have nothing left to give.
if you were a true Lebanese, you would understand what I said.
24 July 2012, 16:26
03
FT, the LF is not a monolithic organisation. There are different opinions in the party and they are voiced freely. To generalize: the old farts like me tend to prefer a disarmament of Hezbollah by political / diplomatic means and this invariably involves posturing and clear definition of red lines as a preamble to negotiations which is what Samir is doing. The younger generation of LF:ers tend to be less tolerant and patient (and have a surplus of testosterones ) and at times advocate a more militant approach. Its really nothing strange: every political movement has similar currents.
24 July 2012, 16:27
02
con't
Samir has the responsibility and the duty to uphold the principles of the LF and his positions are stiffer than that of the Kataeb. The LF by definition is to the right of the Kataeb and therefore less inclined to concessions. But this does not make us war mongers. We simply have less wiggle room on the issue of disarmament. What Samir wants to establish a different baseline then the one that Hezbollah wants as a precondition to join the talks. To me personally, the unity of the Christians transcends the LF and the FMP and I want the leaderships of both parties to exert serious effort to unite our ranks.
24 July 2012, 17:00
03
FT
First hizbushaitan have admitted several times recently their iranian agenda.
second no one believes this resistance until the country is free.
third for shebaa, the proof is in the hands of your syrian masters, and they denied sending that letter to the UN to solve this matter.
don't you think what you said above is complete BS?
24 July 2012, 16:31
04
Geagea is a good man at least he speaks for Lebanon unlike Hezb Iran .Mr Gemayel Hezb Iran will be gone once the big dog in Syria is gone than Hezb will follow suit.Geagea for president ,god bless Lebanon ..
24 July 2012, 17:46
02
You must be real smart that you can see what other people can't or you are a big idiot...which one is it? do I need to guess???
24 July 2012, 19:16
01
The biggest problem with modernity is that you can't just get the idiots who want to go to war to go kill each other, but that once a war begins its mostly who support neither side who are murdered en masse. Look at us, the People of Lebanon: who, still, today, after all that has happened in the past decade or so, still whole-heartedly believes in either M8 or M14 and wouldn't prefer to be associated with neither and live an ACTUAL HUMAN LIFE in Lebanon without being referenced to some political party whose definition of existence revolves around a foreign country ("pro-Syria", "anti-Syria", "pro-West", "anti-West", ad nauseam).
24 July 2012, 20:28
31
Are you serious? You believe israel will remain? Not a chance. It is a prophecy that it will be destroyed. You will see.
25 July 2012, 00:23
02
bandoul dream on Hezb Iran know what to do with Sixty thousand rockets made in 1960 and they can stick them where the sun dont shine, ,they are not called the party of god they are called the party of Iran.They will never control Lebanon not a chance and if you ask why the answer is Assad is going = bye bye Hezb Iran ,god bless Lebanon..
25 July 2012, 16:13
00
From your mouth to God's ear, nchallah bass that's not how it will work out. It's just my opinion though, I hope I am wrong.
25 July 2012, 16:17
01
It seems the biased censors violated thier on terms of service and removed my post. Here it is again, in case you're wondering: The people who dream of wiping the Party of God from the face of the earth are the same out of touch with reality people who believe that someday Israel will be wiped form the face of the earth. Sixty thousands rockets are sixty thousands rockets with or without Syria's support. And those who think the Party does not use the Airport and Seaport of Beirut to smuggle whatever they want are just not coping well with Lebanon's terminal illness. The Party of God will hold us hostage and at gunpoint for a very long time to come and nobody cares.
26 July 2012, 10:32
00
Too bad for a very esteemed news site like Naharnet to have a sick and extremely biased moderator who is beyond comprehension of what is being written.
