Geagea: Sad to Celebrate Army Day without President

Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea hailed the Lebanese Army saying it is the only “legitimate institution to ward off any imminent danger,” and expressed sadness that the day is marked in the absence of a president.

Marking the 70th anniversary of the military institution, Geagea extended his well wishes to the Army Commander Jean Qahwaji.

He hailed the army's efforts to preserve Lebanon's stability in light of the current situation in the country “they are the heroes who protect the people and land,” he said in a statement on Saturday.

He concluded stressing the necessity to “elect a head of state as soon as possible. It is a pity that the 70th army anniversary is celebrated in the absence of a president to graduate a new batch of soldiers.”

He called on the Lebanese to unite behind the military institution in light of the institutional vacuum and the paralysis that Lebanon is witnessing.

Lebanon has been living without a president since the term of President Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014.

The 70th anniversary of the Lebanese army's founding comes a year after the attack of terrorists on military bases in the northeastern border town of Arsal.

Al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front and Islamic State group extremists overran the town in August last year and engaged in heavy gunbattles with the military.

They also took with them hostages from the army and police and later executed four of them.