Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Oct. 14, 2024. (Photo taken from his X account)
The leader of the Lebanese Forces seems convinced that the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel will end in a "clear way," with a winner and a loser, according to comments given on Monday to the website of the local MTV channel. This position has earned the Christian leader a new wave of accusations on social networks, according to which he would bet on a defeat of Hezbollah to see his political influence reduced on the internal scene. This is something the LF denies, affirming that the important thing is to continue pushing for the implementation of Security Council resolution 1701 (2006), which had ended the war between Hezbollah and Israel, and especially to elect a new president as soon as possible, even before the guns fall silent.
In his interview, the LF leader spoke about the outcome of the conflict.
"I am optimistic. This conflict should end in a clear way," he said. Explaining his thoughts, Geagea stressed that the recent positions taken on the triple Arab, European and American level "give the feeling that this war will not end in a vague way."
The leader avoided giving more details on his vision for the end of the war. But his statements come a week after a previous interview given to the same channel (known for its opposition to Hezbollah), during which he had sworn "not to want to see Hezbollah defeated" or "the Shiite community broken."
LF spokesperson Charles Jabbour told L'Orient-Le Jour that this was not a reversal in opinion.
"We are betting on the Lebanese state and its authority ... Our concern today is not to return to the period before Oct. 7 [2023] once the fighting is over," he explains, taking care to assure that this does not mean that his party is betting on Israel to achieve any objective.
The head of the LF stressed that "some officials who are now pleading for the implementation of 1701 (which requires the withdrawal of Hezbollah from the areas south of the Litani) have joined us and our demands, albeit in a timid manner to keep all channels open." An allusion to Parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri and caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, who are conducting diplomatic contacts with a view to a cease-fire mainly focused on the implementation of this resolution.
"It is the initial version of 1701 that we are talking about, that is to say the one including 1559 (adopted in 2004 and which requires the "disarmament of the militias") that we want to apply," said Jabbour.
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In his interview on Monday, the LF leader also responded to the controversy sparked by recent comments by Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Ghalibaf that Iran would be ready to negotiate with Paris on the implementation of 1701 and that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei would be a “pillar for the Lebanese.” Geagea welcomed the position of Mikati, who criticized the Iranian official’s comments, accusing him of interference. “It gives us hope in the ability of Lebanese officials to take fair and firm positions,” he said.
Bassil 'made me laugh'
Referring to the presidential election, the LF leader began by criticizing Berri, a key player in this matter.
"I congratulate Berri for calling Parliament to a session on Tuesday [for the election of the chairmen and rapporteurs of the parliamentary committees at the opening of the new session of Parliament]. But he should be just as concerned about calling a session to elect a head of state, the presidency being a more important institution than the others," he said, stressing that the current situation requires calling an open session with successive rounds of voting. A step that Geagea would like to see accomplished before the end of hostilities. "All the more so since it is precisely because the country is at war that it should equip itself with institutions with full powers," he said.
Commenting on the latest initiative of his Christian rival, the leader of the Free Patriotic Movement Gebran Bassil, to unblock the vote, Geagea simply said that the move made him "laugh a lot," in an allusion to the list of presidential candidates established by the Batroun MP and which includes all the presidential candidates mentioned on the political scene, including those opposed by the FPM, notably Geagea and the head of the army Joseph Aoun.
