Geagea to Nasrallah: Would You Have Opposed U.S. Strikes against IS Had Iran Been Part of Coalition?
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea questioned on Wednesday Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's opposition to the United States-led strikes against jihadist Islamic State positions in the region.
He asked Nasrallah: “Would you have maintained your initial rejection of the international coalition against the IS had Iran been part of it?”
“We know that Iran wanted to be part of the coalition, but complications in the negotiations over its nuclear program hindered it,” he added after holding talks with National Liberal Party leader Dory Shamoun.
“We know that the U.S. is seeking its interests, but what if Lebanon and the U.S. have common interests? Would you still oppose the strikes?” Geagea wondered.
“If Islamists staged a new attack against the army in the northeastern town of Arsal, shouldn't the army request the international coalition for aerial help?” he asked.
“Wouldn't the failure to request for this assistance be considered as a form of complicity with the Islamists?” continued the LF chief.
Moreover, he addressed Nasrallah's remark that Lebanon would be faced with dangers should it join the international coalition, asking: “Doesn't the intervention in the fighting in Syria pose a threat to Lebanon?”
“Shouldn't you have ordered your MPs to head to parliament and elect a new president had you really wanted to build a strong state?” he said.
He then turned to Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun and his bloc's ongoing boycott of the presidential elections, asking: “What are you waiting for? Why are you continuing the boycott?”
“We could have joined your boycott had you given us a single convincing reason,” he stressed.
“We see no legitimate excuse to maintain the boycott as Lebanon drowns deeper and deeper in chaos, negligence, irresponsibility, and darkness,” Geagea added.
Nasrallah had said during a speech on Tuesday: “We are against American military intervention and against the international coalition, whether the target is the (Syrian) regime or the IS.”
“We are against the coalition because America is the mother and source of terrorism and because it is the ultimate supporter of Zionist state terrorism,” he added.
Nasrallah noted that U.S. President Barack Obama himself has announced that the coalition is aimed at “defending American interests.”
“This is not our business. All peoples in the region have the right to question America's motives,” he added.
The secretary general also pointed out that it is not in Lebanon's interest to be in the U.S.-led international coalition, “not in line with the dissociation policy but because that poses threats to Lebanon.”
“Lebanon can fight terror and it has succeeded in doing so through the army, security forces and perseverance,” Nasrallah said.
The U.S.-led coalition had started carrying out strikes against the IS and against al-Qaida-linked groups in Syria on Tuesday morning.
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