The leader of the Lebanese Forces, Samir Geagea (center), during a dinner organized by the party’s branch in Zahle, on Nov. 8, 2025. (Credit: NNA)
The leader of the Lebanese Forces (LF), Samir Geagea, strongly criticized the open letter sent Thursday by Hezbollah to President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, defending its refusal to hand over its weapons to the Lebanese Army, as required by a series of government decisions.
“You cannot say, ‘I choose to adopt the path of resistance or not to adopt it.’ That’s not your role … If the state exists, it is the state that makes such decisions. It has decided to centralize weapons within its institutions and to reserve the power to decide on peace and war to itself alone,” said the LF leader, a staunch opponent of the party.
“Moreover, we have all seen where the so-called ‘choice of resistance’ you have pursued has led Lebanon and the Lebanese,” he added, referring to Hezbollah’s decision to open a support front following the outbreak of the Gaza war on Oct. 7, 2023.
The Lebanese Forces leader accused Hezbollah of failing to respect the cease-fire reached with Israel in November 2024, arguing that the group has still not handed over its weapons. “You claim to have fully abided by the cease-fire agreement concluded about a year ago. That is a blatant error,” he added.
Geagea also rejected the party’s argument that the Lebanese state is acting under Israeli and American pressure in seeking to disarm Hezbollah. “You claim that we, under American and Israeli pressure, are demanding the dissolution of the so-called ‘resistance.’ That’s false. We, before the Americans, the Arabs, the West and the Israelis, are the ones who want a real state. A state can only be real if weapons are centralized within it and if the decision over peace and war rests solely in its hands,” he concluded.
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