Gemayel holds Hezbollah responsible for Ain al-Helweh clashes

Kataeb Party chief Sami Gemayel has held responsible for the deadly clashes in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Helweh near Sidon.

“With the presence of Lebanese and non-Lebanese armed militias on Lebanese soil, the Ain al-Helweh clashes are a normal result of that,” Gemayel said in an interview with al-Hurra television.

Asked about “Hezbollah’s responsibility” as to the events in the camp, Gemayel said: “Hezbollah is responsible for two reasons: the first is that Hezbollah is preventing the rise of the state and preventing it from extending its authority over all territories. It is also preventing the exclusivity of arms and it is responsible for arms proliferation because it is giving the example through the presence of its armed militia.”

“The second reason is that it is engaged in the conflict among the Palestinian factions by backing some of them in Palestine, coordinating with some in Lebanon and playing a role in the power struggle among these factions,” Gemayel added.

“The state is absent and Hezbollah and the parliament speaker are taking the decisions and negotiating on behalf of the Lebanese, as happened in the (sea) border demarcation file, when the state was in the forefront while in fact it was Hezbollah that was negotiating with Israel through the Lebanese state,” the Kataeb leader went on to say.