The Lebanese Forces (LF) quickly responded to the “false statements” made against them by the leader of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), Gebran Bassil, stressing their role as an “impenetrable barrier” against attempts to change Lebanon’s identity by imposing new norms that contradict the Constitution.
LF MP Sethrida Geagea asserted on Wednesday that the party will not yield to intimidation or incitement tactics employed by certain factions in the past, and that the LF, along with other opposition parties, will persist in their demand for strict adherence to the Constitution.
These remarks came in response to Bassil’s speech during his tour in Akkar on Sunday, in which he accused the LF of obstructing the presidential election by refusing to engage in dialogue called for by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.
Geagea countered that the LF is being politically isolated and targeted by a campaign of false accusations, aiming to execute a plan to prolong the country’s economic and financial crisis. She also addressed the rumors circulating about a strain in relations between the LF and the Maronite Patriarchate, dismissing them as baseless and highlighting the historically strong ties between the two.
LF MP Pierre Bou Assi also hit back at Bassil’s accusations regarding the influx of Syrian migrants into Lebanon in 2011.
He pointed out that it was the FPM that had requested UN agencies to stop registering Syrian refugees in Lebanon. Bou Assi also pointed out that the FPM had failed to demand access to data from the UNHCR during their six years in power, either out of complicity or cowardice. Bou Assi invited the FPM to a public debate on this issue, reminding them that the matter falls under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Interior, in collaboration with the Ministries of Education, Health, Labor and Social Affairs.
