Lebanese Forces (LF) leader Samir Geagea asserted on Friday that the ongoing offensive against the Syrian regime is aimed at rooting out Iran and its allied militias, calling on Hezbollah to acknowledge that fact and give up its so-called armed resistance.
“The military Hezbollah no longer exists today, and the triptych 'army, people, resistance' no longer holds,” he declared during a televised interview on the political program Sar el Waet, broadcast on the Lebanese channel MTV.
“International resolutions 1559, 1680 and 1701 must be applied, otherwise the country will sink into uncertainty… We refuse any return to the situation that prevailed before October 8, 2023,” he added.
Referring to the ceasefire agreement between Hezbollah and Israel, Geagea argued: “The agreement is not limited to the disarmament of Hezbollah south of the Litani River; it concerns the whole of Lebanese territory. This agreement is clear and explicit, and everyone must abide by it to guarantee the sovereignty of the Lebanese state over the whole country.”
Addressing recent events in Syria, Geagea pointed out that one of the aims of this operation could be to distance Iran from Syria.
“Such a scenario is already noticeable with the control of the border crossing between Syria and Iraq by the rebels.
“The rapid and incomprehensible withdrawal of the Syrian army raises many questions. We'll have to wait to find out whether this means that Iran is out of Syria with President Bashar al-Assad, or whether Assad is complicit in what's going on. Either way, it's clear that the US is playing a role in these developments, and, of course, Israel is no stranger to this situation,” he added.
Geagea played down fears of a new wave of Syrian displacement or incursion by Syrian militants into Lebanon, stressing that “General Security and the Lebanese Army are perfectly capable of repelling them and protecting Lebanese territory.”
“Everyone needs to understand that there is a state, an army and a people ready to defend their territory.”
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