Geagea steps up criticism of army, says LF have studied Haykal’s replacement

BEIRUT — Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea questioned the Lebanese Army’s “will” to act against Hezbollah during a televised interview Thursday evening, criticizing army commander Rodolph Haykal and saying his party had considered replacing him after receiving information that he had “refused to implement” official decisions on the state’s monopoly on arms.

“This is a prerogative of the Cabinet,” Geagea said, adding that he was nonetheless “confident” that Haykal “will carry out the orders he receives.”

Geagea returned at length to the explosives seized from Hezbollah earlier this month, a case that has stirred political tensions in Lebanon. He reiterated his party’s demand that the case be referred to the Court of Justice, saying the withdrawal of LF ministers from a Cabinet meeting the previous day, after no decision was made on the matter, was not “demagoguery,” as Prime Minister Nawaf Salam had accused them of.

Asked about Hezbollah supporters’ demonstrations in Beirut last weekend, following a seizure that escalated into a tense standoff between supporters and security forces, Geagea said he was “not afraid of another May 7” because “circumstances have changed since then.”

On May 7, 2008, Hezbollah fighters and their allies seized control of several neighborhoods in West Beirut before clashes spread to the Mountain, in response to government decisions targeting the group’s telecommunications network.

“The army can oppose this kind of thing, but it must have the will to do so,” Geagea said. He also accused an unnamed security agency of reporting simultaneously to the president and prime minister, as well as to Hezbollah.

On Oct. 20, the Israeli army claimed to have “evidence” that Hezbollah continued to move freely around military sites that the Lebanese Army was supposed to have neutralized since the 2024 cease-fire.

The Lebanese Army rejected the allegations, saying that an increase in disinformation campaigns and false claims by Israel aimed to undermine its credibility in Lebanon and abroad.

No 'demagoguery'

Regarding the Oct. 5 seizure of several hundred kilograms of TNT and C-4 explosives in Dahr al-Baidar, between the Bekaa Valley and Beirut, Geagea sharply criticized the decision not to refer the case to the Court of Justice. Hezbollah acknowledged that the explosives belonged to the group.

“This is a threat to national security, civil peace and the prestige of the state,” Geagea said.

He also rejected the Cabinet’s argument that the case could not be referred to the Court of Justice while the judicial investigation was ongoing. He cited several precedents, including the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, to argue that such a referral was possible.

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“Hezbollah knows what it means for this matter to end up before this court, hence its refusal,” he said, adding that the dispute was more about the legal classification of the crime than any demand for a particular outcome.

Geagea stopped short of saying his ministers would leave the government. He described their temporary withdrawal as “the best solution for the moment,” given that forming another government was not possible under the current circumstances.

Although he expressed frustration with certain political behaviors several times during the interview, he said he continued to support the country’s top two officials and that his ministers would continue “the confrontation from within” the government.

Framework agreement based on disarmament

Asked about the framework agreement signed between Lebanon and Israel in June 2026 as part of direct negotiations under U.S. auspices, Geagea said that “even those who criticize it today have every interest in its remaining in force.”

He questioned what would have happened had the agreement not been signed, arguing that it was based on Hezbollah’s disarmament, followed by an Israeli withdrawal and reconstruction in south Lebanon.

Lebanon should take the initiative to dismantle Hezbollah “in the interest of state-building, and not to appease Israel,” he said.

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Asked about the prospect of a regional war, Geagea said he believed another conflict was likely. In that event, he said, Hezbollah would open a new front in South Lebanon despite opposition from a majority of the Shiite community, because of the group’s close ties to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Regional tensions are rising, with attention focused on the period following the U.S. midterm elections.

Geagea also addressed the electricity sector, which falls under the portfolio of LF minister Joe Saddi. Responding to criticism over the country’s chronic power shortages, he defended Saddi, attributing the current outages to “an infrastructure we inherited.”

He said a strategic shift was already underway, adding that 40 companies had submitted bids to the regulatory committee and that the tendering process was ongoing to upgrade the infrastructure.

“Electricity will be provided 24 hours a day, and at prices lower than current prices, but within a timeframe of one and a half to four years,” he said.

Lebanon has suffered from chronic power shortages for decades, forcing residents to rely on expensive, polluting neighborhood generators. The Lebanese Forces have long criticized their political rival, the Free Patriotic Movement, which controlled the Energy Ministry under several successive governments.