Hezbollah conducted a military demonstration on Sunday, May 21, near the locality of Mlita, South Lebanon, ahead of Liberation Day celebrated on May 25. The event sparked several reactions, with many condemning it as an “empty show of force and a message of defiance to the state.”
Head of Foreign Affairs in the Lebanese Forces Party, former Minister Richard Kouyoumjian, criticized “the Shiite duo and [former President Michel] Aoun who have not been able to agree on a [presidential candidate] but agree that the president should legitimize the weapons of the Iranian Militia.”
Kouyoumjian expressed in a tweet deep strategic disagreements [with them], involving the state, the role of the army, sovereignty, the Constitution, reforms and the power of the law.”
“What presidential elections are we talking about?” he mockingly asked.
“It is time for this lie around consensus and dialogue to have come to an end,” he added.
For his part, MP Ibrahim Mneimneh said that “these maneuvers and show of force become irrelevant in the wake of the delineation of maritime borders and the normalization of relations between Saudi arabia and Iran.”
In his opinion, Hezbollah conveyed “an empty message.”
For his part, Member of the “Strong Republic” Bloc MP Said Al Asmar tweeted, “Hezbollah’s show of force yesterday neither concerns us nor scares us. It actually boosts our commitment toward building a capable, strong and just state that rejects the presence of illegitimate weapons.”
“No other interest comes above the interest of our homeland and its people, and no formula protects and preserves Lebanon besides the formula of the ‘Army, People and State’,” he added.
Former MP Elie Keyrouz tackled the maneuvers’ timing. “They were conducted 48 hours after the Jeddah Declaration at the end of the Arab Summit,” he noted.
“The declaration strongly rejected any support for the formation of armed groups and militias outside the scope of state institutions,” Keyrouz explained.
