Geagea: Ministers should pay south compensations from their own pockets

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Thursday criticized government’s decision to pay $10 million in compensations to southern residents affected by Israeli bombardment.

“The $10 million that the government has promised in compensation for the damages inflicted on citizens and properties in the South due to the exchange of rocket and artillery shelling between Hezbollah and Israel should be paid from the pockets of the ministers who voted in favor of this decision,” Geagea said in a a post on the X platform, formerly Twitter.

“A large majority of the Lebanese people has not authorized anyone to fire rockets from Lebanon at Israel to preserve their own regional role,” Geagea added.

He also noted that “the exchange of shelling is not at all in support of Gaza,” arguing that “the biggest evidence is that the aggression against Gaza continued and is still continuing.”

“Can more destruction be inflicted on Gaza?” Geagea wondered, noting that Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel from the south “are only aimed at keeping Iran in the equation of the Arab-Israeli conflict.”