Kataeb leader Samy Gemayel has lashed out at Hezbollah, on Wednesday, accusing it of exposing Lebanon to an existential threat.
In an interview with LBCI, Mr Gemayel accused the pro-Iranian formation of “disregarding the wishes and will of the majority of Lebanese” and criticized it for “linking Lebanon’s fate to that of Iraq, Palestine and Syria, by advocating a unity of fronts”. “Why should we give Israel a pretext to start a war against us?” he asked, insisting that Lebanon was not in a position to “fight for the cause of other states”.
The theory that Hezbollah “respects the rules of engagement” in its clashes with Israel on the southern border “shows that there is an agreement with Tel Aviv on this issue”, Samy Gemayel pointed out, while stressing that it was not valid “because things can go wrong at any time”. “What will we do if an accident occurs and people are killed on the Israeli side?” he asked, before adding: “If we want to protect Lebanon, we must first consolidate its sovereignty”.
In Samy Gemayel’s opinion, only the army should be deployed in southern Lebanon. In this context, he sharply criticized FPM leader Gebran Bassil for campaigning against the military forces and their commander, General Joseph Aoun, and defending Hezbollah’s weapons. “Gebran Bassil and Hezbollah should be touring universities around the world teaching the new concepts they are inventing in political science, according to which the militias and not the armies should protect a country and preserve its sovereignty,” he commented sarcastically.
Mr Gemayel insisted that “nobody in Lebanon, among the political forces, has shown any desire to take part in the war” in Gaza, “contrary to what Hezbollah and its allies are trying to make people believe”.
In his view, the pro-Iranian group “is applying its own strategy by advocating a common front with groups such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Houthis, thereby dealing a blow to Lebanese sovereignty”.
He sees everything that is happening today as an opportunity to launch the debate on defense strategy once the military conflict in Gaza is over, especially since “the events of the last two weeks show that Lebanon is under total control of Hezbollah”. “We have recently seen the extent to which Hezbollah influences decision-making: people are waiting for Hassan Nasrallah’s televised speech, not the Prime minister’s, to find out Lebanon’s position on the war,” he said indignantly.
