Kataeb party leader Samy Gemayel said on Wednesday that the opposition had succeeded in preserving the Lebanese army by extending the term of office of the Army’s Commander-in-Chief, General Joseph Aoun, and had prevented Hezbollah from imposing its presidential candidate.
“The Lebanese state is powerless, and the war on the country’s southern border is being fought between Israel and Hezbollah. Lebanon is being held hostage, and we want to live in peace and freedom, away from militias, missiles and war”, said the MP in a televised interview on local channel LBCI. He continued: “The implementation of Resolution 1701 depends on the role to be played by the army and the State. For that, we need a head of state, but the presidency is being held hostage by Hezbollah”, he lamented.
Gemayel then spoke out against the pro-Iranian formation, “which dragged the country into war on October 8, to divert Israel’s attention from Gaza by opening a front in southern Lebanon, with the aim of unifying the fronts”. “We are not ready to destroy Lebanon and plunge it into civil war. Iran finances Hezbollah with billions of dollars and has transformed it into a regional army. Our role is to form a united opposition front to confront Hezbollah, which presents itself as the defender of the Shiites in Lebanon, but in reality defends Iran”, he stressed. “As long as Hezbollah’s weapons are present, the system will remain paralyzed. The solution lies in a wide-ranging set of constitutional reforms that guarantee each community its rights, but this debate will not take place under the threat of arms,” warned the Kataeb’s chief.
Samy Gemayel also severely criticized caretaker Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, “the ally of March 8, who is incapable of taking a stand against Hezbollah, since it is the one who appointed him as head of the government”. He added: “US Special Envoy, Amos Hochstein, should normally have met the caretaker Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abdallah Bou Habib, but did not do so since the current government is under Hezbollah’s control”.
Turning to the subject of the presidential election, the Kataeb leader explained that the opposition had asked its initial candidate, MP Michel Moawad, “to withdraw from the race in order to bring the various political parties together and show goodwill”.”The fact remains, however, that the Axis of Resistance camp is determined to impose its candidate, Marada party leader Sleiman Frangieh, and refuses to take part in any electoral session whose outcome it does not know in advance, even if this blocks the deadline and the political institutions. When the Shiite formation decides to abandon Frangieh’s candidacy and opt for a candidate who will be accepted, we will have a president within 48 hours”, he assured.
