Geagea Slams Hizbullah Border Tour for Reporters as 'Strategic Mistake'

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Thursday slammed a tour for reporters that Hizbullah has organized on the border with Israel as a “strategic mistake.”

“It is not a mere error but rather a strategic mistake, seeing as the party has given the impression that there is no official Lebanese army that is responsible for the border and that there is no State. What is worse than all of this is that it gave the impression that U.N. Resolution 1701 has become something of the past,” Geagea said in a statement.

“At a time the region is boiling with events and at a time Israel is more and more showing hostile intentions towards Lebanon, we are in urgent need to remind of Resolution 1701 and to stress that Lebanon is fully committed to it. Secondly we need to prove that there is a State in Lebanon and that only the Lebanese army is responsible for the border, in anticipation of any hostile operations against Lebanon that Israel might be thinking of,” the LF leader added.

“We call on the Lebanese government, in which we are represented, to understand the situation and ask Hizbullah to stop this type of behavior,” Geagea urged, calling on the government to “fully shoulder its responsibilities, especially in terms of the proper implementation of Resolution 1701, and to become properly in charge of the strategic decisions.”

Earlier in the day, Hizbullah organized a tour for reporters along Lebanon's southern border to brief them about the defense measures that Israel has set up in recent months.

“Around a year ago, the enemy built fortifications, sand barricades and massive defense measures to prevent any breach by infantry fighters,” a Hizbullah militant donning combat fatigues and sunglasses told the reporters.

The Hizbullah fighter noted that his group has its “special tactics to deal with these structures.”

“We are not discussing what the resistance will do or its plan but rather what the enemy is assuming,” he added.

Both Hizbullah and Israel have warned that a new conflict between them would be worse than previous ones.

Hizbullah fired more than 4,000 rockets on northern Israel in the 2006 war, while Israel bombarded targets across Lebanon, mainly in the south. The month of fighting killed an estimated 1,300 Lebanese mostly civilians, 44 Israeli civilians and 121 Israeli soldiers.