Geagea says ending political deadlock key to war truce
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said that electing a new president was key to obtaining a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
Lebanon has been without a head of state for almost two years amid a crushing economic crisis and, now, as Israel heavily bombards the country saying it is targeting Hezbollah sites.
Hezbollah allies and their adversaries including the LF have been deadlocked over the presidency, unable to reach a consensus.
"The urgency first and foremost is a ceasefire to end the catastrophe that our people are enduring," said Geagea, who heads the LF and parliament's largest Christian bloc.
"In the absence of serious international initiatives, our only option to reach a ceasefire is by electing a president," Geagea, who is close to the United States and Saudi Arabia, said in a press conference.
Early last month Geagea accused Hezbollah of dragging Lebanon into a war with Israel, "as if there were no state."
Almost a year of cross-border exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah escalated into all-out war on September 23, with Israel heavily bombarding south and east Lebanon and Beirut's southern suburbs, saying it is targeting Hezbollah sites.
Geagea called for "a credible president who commits clearly to implementing international resolutions, in particular resolutions 1559, 1680 and 1701, in all their provisions."
Security Council Resolutions 1559 and 1680 called for the disarmament of all non-state groups.
Adopted in 2006, Resolution 1701 led to a ceasefire in an Israel-Hezbollah war that year and said the Lebanese Army and peacekeepers should be the only armed forces deployed in the country's south.
Hezbollah is the lone group that refused to give up its weapons after Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war, doing so in the name of "resistance" against Israel.
The group was founded after Israel besieged the capital Beirut in 1982, and has since become a powerful domestic political player, though detractors have accused it of being a "state within a state."
Geagea said a president would have to ensure that "strategic decisions belong solely to the state."
13 October 2024, 17:37
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Berri will not willingly go down in Lebanese history as the Islamic Expansionist who failed to strike Christians deathly blow. For the sake of peace, he is unlikely to willingly encourage, no less oversee, the emasculation of Hezbollah. Our enemies are pushing for an end, one way or another, to the Ayatollah's creeping revolution. But there is no one to officially decide for Lebanon .. we are still factions .. but afraid to act as factions or as a nation .. and so we will be conquered completely, one way or the other, again.
13 October 2024, 21:36
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Lebanon’s Politicians Should Be Careful
"My final and most important message is addressed to Mr. Nabih Berri: he has a historical duty to seize the opportunity now, build a Lebanese state, and ensure that future generations of Lebanese do not look back on this period and say: 'let it be remembered but not repeated.' "
. Source: https://english.aawsat.com/opinion/5070585-lebanon%E2%80%99s-politicians-should-be-careful
13 October 2024, 21:40
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Sabotaging the Lebanon Rescue Project
"It’s important to remember that all the major factions, even Hezbollah through its representative Nabih Berri, initially agreed to move forward with the political process. However, momentum slowed as obstacles were deliberately placed in the way. The disagreement is no longer about presidential candidates—some are even calling for Hezbollah to be given another chance. This stance essentially seeks the continuation of the Iranian-Israeli conflict on Lebanese soil, now and in the future. In contrast, restoring the presidency and empowering the army would end the war and lead to a single state with a single army, returning to the Naqoura Agreement to protect Lebanon from Israeli aggression."
. Source: https://english.aawsat.com/opinion/5070491-sabotaging-lebanon-rescue-project
