Geagea says fighting 'battle' of Syrians return, another against Hezbollah

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has stressed that “the state will not be built as long as the defiance camp led by Hezbollah and the Free Patriotic Movement is present.”

“The proof is their attempt to torpedo the municipal and mayoral elections after they realized that the popular mood is no longer in their favor,” Geagea added, in an interview with the L'Orient-Le Jour newspaper.

Turning to the issue of the Syrian refugee crisis in Lebanon in the wake of LF official Pascal Sleiman’s murder at the hands of a Syrian gang, the LF leader said: “The issue of the displaced Syrians in Lebanon is a demographic, economic and social issue, but before everything else it is existential, that’s why there will be no giving up (in seeking a solution) in order to prevent Lebanon’s collapse.”

Asked about the attacks on Syrians by LF supporters following Sleiman’s murder, Geagea noted that the LF did not only issue a condemnation statement, but has also “punished the party members who were involved in these attacks which we reject and condemn.”

“Security forces also intervened in this regard, which allowed us to turn this page, but we must also realize that when we face explosive stances we cannot ask people not to respond. In this regard, we must resolve the main problem: the heavy presence of Syrians in Lebanon,” the LF leader added.

He also declared that the LF is “fighting various battles: the battle of Syrians’ repatriation and the battle of the confrontation against Hezbollah.”