Geagea rejects Hezbollah arms, says may reevaluate political system if no change occurs
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has congratulated all Lebanese on the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, saying that “over the past 50 years, the regime of Hafez and Bashar al-Assad was the biggest obstacle to the building of a state in Lebanon.”
“No matter how the situation in Syria will be after Assad, it’s impossible that it will be worse than Assad. I don’t know what awaits us with the new Syrian authorities, but there is noting worse than Assad,” Geagea said in an interview on MTV.
The Lebanese state “must start working as needed and the premier must implement the (ceasefire) agreement that the government agreed to on November 27, 2024. The parliament mist also perform its role,” the LF leader added.
As for Lebanon’s ability to repel any attack by Syrian rebels, Geagea said: “Either there is a state in Lebanon or not. The state must act and protect everyone. Who are the Syrian groups that will come to the border? Every Lebanese Army brigade can confront an entire faction and I have not seen or heard any intention by the Syrian groups to head to Lebanon.”
Asked whom he would call to congratulate over Assad’s fall, Geagea picked Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem, saying he would “inform him that we must all return to Lebanon, seeing as the game has ended and the only approach that can protect us all is the rise of an actual state in Lebanon.”
“We as Lebanese will not accept any attempt to return to the previous situation and the men (of Hezbollah) must do the necessary arrangements to hand over their weapons or sell them and we must all embark on building the state in Lebanon,” the LF leader urged.
“Should Hezbollah fail to cooperate, I suppose that there is a government that should implement the (ceasefire) agreement. If that does not happen, we reserve the right to reevaluate everything and I mean it, because we won’t accept to continue living in the same situation that we were in, because through that we won’t have a country nor a society,” Geagea warned.
“We also won’t accept to continue seeing the Lebanese leaving their country because a party wants to keep its arms,” the LF leader said.
Source: Naharnet
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