LF says tried to contain Kahale incident, Kataeb denies seeking civil war

A Lebanese Forces lawmaker on Wednesday denied that his party is seeking a return to civil war.

“To those accusing us of trying to ignite civil war, we tell them: we don’t want war, we don’t have the intention or the ability, and we are not arming,” LF bloc MP Georges Okais told al-Jadeed television.

“It is clear that the LF, to a certain extent, had tried to contain what happened in Kahale,” Okais added.

The legislator, however, lashed out at Hezbollah.

“Hezbollah’s practices in Lebanon can be taught to the coming generations as an armed organization that is labeled terrorist by the world. It is tightening its grip on the system while being from outside the system,” Okais went on to say.

The Kataeb Party meanwhile accused Hezbollah members of “opening fire at Kahale’s men to disperse them, which resulted in the death of Fadi Bejjani with the gunshots of a militia.”

Hezbollah’s arms “are being used under the eyes of a state whose decision is hijacked and that is ruled by a tripartite equation that is no longer valid, after the resistance theory collapsed with the signing of international treaties with Israel,” Kataeb added.

“The aggrieved are the Kahale residents who were attacked, and no one wants civil war other than those who threaten with it at every juncture,” the party said, lashing out at “the axis of death, destruction and defiance.”

“The confrontation must evolve beyond its traditional framework without descending into armament and being dragged into Hezbollah’s approach which we reject,” Kataeb added.