Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea delivers a speech during the annual dinner of the magazine al-Massira, at the party’s headquarters in Maarab, June 6, 2025. (Credit: National News Agency (NNA))
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Friday called the Israeli strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs a day earlier a “scandal,” once again urging the disarmament of Hezbollah.
After issuing evacuation orders, the Israeli army carried out eight airstrikes on the suburbs, claiming to have “targeted terrorist sites belonging to Hezbollah’s Unit 127 air force.” Andrea Tenenti, spokesperson for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), described the strikes as a “dangerous development.”
“What happened in Beirut yesterday [Thursday] is a major scandal: eight months after the cease-fire agreement was signed in November 2024, Beirut is being struck again,” said Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea in a speech reported by the official National News Agency (NNA). He emphasized that the solution lies in “a clear regional and international framework.”
The Lebanese Forces chief also called it “unacceptable” that “Lebanese citizens are constantly living in danger.” He reiterated that “a solution exists” — namely, “becoming a real state.” Over the years, Geagea has positioned himself as a leading opponent of Hezbollah’s continued possession of arms, arguing that the party has formed “a parallel state that blocks the legitimate state and prevents it from functioning, leading to total paralysis.”
Geagea urged the state not to wait for “those weighing it down to spontaneously step aside,” saying instead that it must “rid itself of those crushing it so it can move forward.”
‘The international community doesn’t care’
The Christian leader also criticized calls to the international community to stop Israeli strikes, arguing that the solution lies within Lebanon — through the disarmament of Hezbollah. The party has refused to discuss disarmament beyond the area south of the Litani River, as long as Israel continues its strikes or maintains a presence at five points in southern Lebanon, in violation of the cease-fire agreement signed on Nov. 27, 2024, after 13 months of war.
“If you ask them [Hezbollah]: what is your concrete solution? They respond that the solution is for the international community to take responsibility. That is completely absurd,” said Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea. “The reality is that the international community doesn’t care. It’s up to you to take responsibility first and do what’s necessary to bring the international community to your side. That is the only way to solve our problems. But in reality, they never do that — and all our efforts are in vain.”
He added: “We shouldn’t waste time on lamentations or verbal attacks against Israel, as if that would solve our problems. That’s what many Arab countries have done for the past 70 years, and it led to the loss of the Palestinian cause. We must learn from others’ experiences.”
Geagea concluded that Lebanon can count on “great friends around the world, starting with the Gulf countries and Saudi Arabia, all the way to the United States,” who could “help stop Israeli aggression and push Israel out of Lebanon — but only on one condition: that we become a real state. And the truth is, we are still not a real state.”
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