Geagea Calls for Releasing Abducted Soldiers 'Militarily,' Rejects Parliament Term Extension
Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea on Wednesday rejected any exchange between Roumieh inmates or other extremist detainees and soldiers kidnapped during the clashes of the northeastern town of Arsal, declaring that he supports a military operation to free the abducted troops.
Geagea also announced that he rejects extending the parliament's term.
“I am against any exchange of inmates for the kidnapped soldiers and I call for freeing them militarily,” Geagea announced in an interview on MTV on Wednesday evening.
“The fate of the abducted soldiers has nothing to do with the clashes' continuation... and I support a military operation to free them. Trading them for Roumieh inmates harms the Lebanese state,” he stated.
Geagea said that the latest clashes in the Bekaa's Arsal was triggered by the arrest of Imad Jomaa, who is a member of the al-Qaida-affiliated Al-Nusra Front.
“The initial plan was to recruit 15,000 Syrian refugees to become fighters and exert pressure on Hizbullah,” he revealed.
He considered the results of the border clashes to be “very good.”
“And those who said it was a humiliating settlement want more losses among troops and the eradication of gunmen to please the Syrian regime,” he noted.
On August 2, clashes erupted between the army and gunmen in Arsal in light of the arrest of Jomaa.
Several soldiers were held and wounded in the unrest which ended with a ceasefire last Thursday.
The gunmen withdrew from the town, abducting around 35 troops as negotiations are ongoing to ensure their safe release.
In a related matter, the Christian leader slammed the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant as a “big lie,” accusing the Syrian regime of being the only party supporting the extremist jihadist group.
ISIL “is formed of delinquents, criminals and other outlaws who are abusing some Koranic verses to carry out their acts,” he said, adding that the group's presence in Iraq and Syria was encouraged by the state of the chaos there.
Nevertheless, he assured that ISIL's atrocities in neighboring countries will not be repeated in Lebanon.
“No one should forget that there is a state in Lebanon and what happened in Arsal is a proof of that,” he remarked.
Separately, the LF chief completely rejected extending the parliament's term.
“Despite all reasons that might justify extending the parliament's mandate, we agreed in the LF to support holding the elections on time and not to vote for extension even if no presidential polls were held,” he announced.
“There are barely any arguments that justify extending the parliament's mandate.”
He also revealed that during last week's extended March 14 meeting at the Center House, he failed to convince former Prime Minister and head of al-Mustaqbal Movement Saad Hariri of holding parliamentary polls on time.
“And Hariri could not convince me of extending the parliament's term,” he said.
Commenting on the presidential vacuum, Geagea accused the Change and Reform bloc and Hizbullah's MPs of obstructing the polls.
“There are two parliamentary blocs obstructing the election of a president and we lament that the situation is going to remain the same,” the presidential candidate said.
He elaborated: “The decision is in the hands of (Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel) Aoun and Hizbullah but I also think that Iran, who has suffered losses in Iraq, does not approve of another loss in Lebanon and therefore the crisis is going to continue until further notice.”
He also denied that Hariri's return to Lebanon or the Arsal clashes could influence the presidential polls, stressing that he “will not adriftly withdraw (his) nomination without anything in return as long as Aoun does not want to reach a solution.”
Kataeb Party leader “Sheikh Amin (Gemayel) held talks with other blocs and concluded that they are holding onto their stances towards my nomination,” he revealed.
“And it is not true that my withdrawal for Gemayel's sake will change the results,” he pointed out.
S.D.B.
Source: Naharnet
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