The Lebanese Forces will join forces with the Popular Bloc, led by Myriam Skaff, to run for municipal elections in the city of Zahle, according to a communique published on Monday.
The two parties agreed to run on a unified list and called on the people of Zahle to turn out to vote in big numbers. They also rejected any postponement of the elections, scheduled in May.
LF leader Samir Geagea said earlier that the success of political, economic, social, judicial, reforms depended on restoring state authority.
“Without a sovereign and efficient state, no reform can succeed,” he said at a Sunday mass held in honor of the LF’s martyrs in the 1981 battle of Zahle between party fighters and the Syrian army.
He stressed that creating a sovereign state is a Lebanese requirement, not a foreign one, noting that respect for the sovereignty of the state should have been a priority since the adoption of the Taif Agreement 30 years ago.
Geagea also highlighted the progress made in deploying the Lebanese army on the border with Syria. He warned that “this commitment must not be limited to a mere military presence, but must involve a total extension of the State's authority over the entire territory, to ensure that no Lebanese is privileged over another, except insofar as he or she respects the law.”
Following the fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria on December 8, the border areas between Lebanon and Syria were the scene of violent clashes between the new Syrian armed forces and Lebanese tribes affiliated with Hezbollah.
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