The leader of the Lebanese Forces, Samir Geagea, made no bones about it: “We will not submit, we will not weaken, we will not compromise, and we will not be afraid. We will continue to fight.”
At the annual mass for the martyrs of the Lebanese Resistance organized by the Lebanese Forces (LF) on the first Sunday of September in Meerab, LF leader Samir Geagea asserted that the reality the Lebanese are living through today is the direct result of the Iranian and Syrian regime’s stranglehold on Lebanon. However, he explained that this reality is fake and bears no resemblance to Lebanon, which is being held hostage by the Moumanaa axis. “The Lebanese are tired of empty rhetoric, of the political crisis, of the war, of their situation, and they’re right. What’s more, the international community is only demanding the country’s internal and external stability.”
“Our slogan is ‘the future is ours’ because we are the very essence of Lebanon, although we will always refuse to control the country and prioritize our interests as the opposing camp does. We want a functional and sovereign state,” added the Meerab leader. “The day after the war belongs to us, because it must be based solely on the application of the Constitution and the laws on the entire Lebanese territory. That said, everything can be called into question, except borders and the unity of the country. The social pact and living together can be rethought, but only once a President of the Republic is elected, and not before.”
In a thinly veiled attack on caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Geagea was keen to dot the i’s and cross the t’s on the declining number of Christians in Lebanon. “To those who claim that the number of Christians is low, we reply that we may be low in numbers, but not in efficiency or productivity. All the percentages on which he bases himself are not precise and serve to put pressure on Christians to amend the Constitution. So, amending the Constitution is feasible and possible, but not before the election of a president,” he said.
LF and the Palestinian Cause
“We support this cause and stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people as much as is possible and reasonable. However, we reject the actions and words of those who manipulate and use this cause to the detriment of Lebanon’s interests and to advance their personal and regional interests,” he stressed. “The war was imposed on the Lebanese, and it must end urgently before it spreads any further,” he added.
Geagea asked, “Who mandated Hezbollah to decide on war and peace on behalf of the Lebanese? How is it that Lebanon is the only Arab country to have an open front and pay the exorbitant price of war? What about Syria? This war serves neither Lebanon nor Gaza. The very fact that we don’t agree with Hezbollah and don’t support its position makes us traitors and collaborators in their eyes.”
“In fact, they are the traitors and collaborators, since they are serving a non-Lebanese project and interests that are not those of the country! This is why we call on the Lebanese government to put an end to the war by imposing this decision on Hezbollah. If the cabinet fails to do so, then it must assume all the consequences of this war for the country. If Hezbollah thinks it can change Lebanon’s identity, it is mistaken! Lebanon remains and will remain a free, sovereign and independent country. That’s why I’m asking Hezbollah today to review its calculations, rethink its strategy and withdraw. A fault confessed is a fault half-pardoned. If Hezbollah made a mistake in its calculations when entering the war, ‘it is virtuous to go back on its mistakes,’ but it is even more important that it does not make a mistake in its calculations after the war, whatever the end and the results, by going back inwards and trying to impose specific equations, to try to reap gains and compensate for its losses or to translate what it claims and imagines to be a victory.”
Samir Geagea also insisted on “a real and complete partnership, with a state structure that realizes this partnership, far from the domination of any Lebanese component through an armed force outside the state, whatever the pretexts and justifications.” “Arming Hezbollah goes to the heart of Lebanese coexistence and the very notion of statehood. No logic accepts the existence of a state parallel to the state, and coexistence between the two is impossible. Let’s leave to the State the monopoly of arms according to the laws and the constitution, and let’s not hinder the future of our homeland to serve unfounded regional projects. To Hezbollah, we say that its weaponry does not protect the Shiite community, just as no weaponry protects any specific community. If there is protection, it surely lies with the just and efficient state. Guarantees are the responsibility of the state. Reassuring each other is the responsibility of all of us.”
Presidential Election and Dialogue
The head of the Lebanese Forces also insisted on the election of a President of the Republic, which “must not be subject to haggling and must be based on clear constitutional rules, free of ambiguity and interpretation.” “Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri must convene an open parliamentary voting session with successive sessions until the election of a President of the Republic, by what the Constitution prescribes. Let the one who must win and receive the congratulations and encouragement of all, rather than remaining in a spiral of blockages and useless calls for dialogues that take place every day without producing results. Berri must think and act as head of Parliament, and not as a stakeholder and ally of a party whose calculations go beyond the presidency of the republic and Lebanon itself. Under no circumstances will we accept that one group should impose its position and its candidate on all the others, that it should get its hands on the presidency of the republic and persist in blocking and manipulating it, because the road to Baabda Palace does not pass through Haret Hreik, and access to Baabda Palace is not through the gate of Ain el-Tineh, nor according to its conditions and its artificial dialogue. The only way to Baabda Palace is through Parliament Square, the seat of Parliament, and the ballot box. No group, however powerful, has the right to monopolize, to control, to destroy the balance and the national partnership, and to invent precedents and conventions stronger than the Constitution and create principles that become the norm,” he declared.
Geagea later concluded, “They demand dialogue for the election of the President of the Republic but refuse dialogue to save the country from the clutches of war and pull it out of the dark tunnel. When they fail to impose their candidate and the president they want, they propose a dialogue to circumvent reality and obtain what they have not been able to achieve through constitutional and democratic rules and mechanisms. And when they want to reserve for themselves the power to decide on the war and drag Lebanon and the Lebanese into a conflict beyond their capabilities, they refuse dialogue and ignore the urgent and just calls of parliamentarians to discuss the war with the government, which is the basis of the rules of parliamentary work.”
Sovereignist Audience
The religious service began at 5.30 PM, at the party’s headquarters in Meerab, in front of an audience of FL supporters, most notably a very large number of young people and over a hundred FL scouts, alongside various political figures, notably from the sovereignist opposition.
In attendance were MP Marwan Hamadeh, representing the Progressive Socialist Party parliamentary bloc, MP Sajih Attieh representing the National Moderation bloc, MP Elias Hankach representing Kataeb party leader Sami Gemayel, MP Nadim Gemayel, MPs Achraf Rifi and Michel Moawad from the Renewal bloc, the President of the National Liberal Party, MP Camille Chamoun, MP Neemat Frem, former ministers Ziad Baroud and May Chidiac, and all MPs from the FL parliamentary bloc.
