Voices within the opposition camp are calling on the official authorities to take control of the country’s affairs and to restore the powers of the state, which Hezbollah has undermined.
This measure is deemed essential in light of the escalating Israeli strikes and the disasters affecting Lebanon since the pro-Iranian group reopened the southern front and ignored repeated Israeli threats, opposition leaders pleaded.
The Renewal parliamentary bloc (Tajaddod) has called on caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati “to take back control of the decision on war and peace so that the government can fulfill its natural role of protecting Lebanon and the Lebanese people.”
After a meeting held on Wednesday between Mikati and MPs Michel Moawad, Fouad Makhzoumi and Ashraf Rifi, the latter emphasized the need “for all officials to make efforts to stop the bloodshed and protect Lebanon as both a nation and a state amid the expansion of the war imposed by Hezbollah.”
“The government is the sole authority in the absence of a President of the Republic,” Rifi stated. “It is therefore unacceptable for it to abandon this role and adopt the discourse of the obstructionist axis (Hezbollah-Amal) instead of representing the voice of legitimacy and the Lebanese state.”
The MPs urged the government to issue a call for a ceasefire and to promptly decide to deploy the Lebanese army along the Blue Line, as per Security Council Resolution 1701.
They argued that this decision would constitute “a first step” towards implementing UN resolutions 1701 (2006), 1680 (2006), and 1559 (2004).
This would allow “for the confirmation of the armistice agreement concluded with Israel (1949), to control the borders, to protect Lebanon, to restore the state’s decision regarding peace and war, and to limit weapons to its exclusive control,” they emphasized.
The Tajaddod bloc also reiterated its refusal to link the presidential election to a ceasefire in the south, as previously discussed with the Speaker of Parliament, Nabih Berri.
“The Parliament is the only constitutional body tasked with electing the President immediately and independently of any other factors,” they stated in a published communiqué.
Echoing this sentiment, Lebanese Forces MP Sethrida Geagea stressed that the state is the only guarantor of security for the Lebanese people.
In a post on platform X, Geagea stated that “it is time for the state to assume its responsibilities alone,” specifying that the first step in this direction is “the election of a President of the Republic as per the Constitution.”
This would be followed by appointing a Prime Minister who would form a government tasked with “implementing the Constitution and international resolutions related to Lebanon,” she continued.
“Anyone who opposes this election wishes to keep Lebanon without a genuine state and real institutions despite the tragedy that the people are experiencing and the devastation that has swept the country,” she concluded.
