Geagea Says Only Army Can Protect Lebanon, Slams 'Interference in Syria, Iraq, Yemen'
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea stressed Friday that only the Lebanese army can protect Lebanon from the terrorist groups that are entrenched on its border, as he criticized “interference in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.”
“Recently, we heard some parties trying to reassure us by saying that they would protect us from Daesh (Islamic State group) and al-Nusra Front ... Haven't they read any newspapers in the past 40 years?” said Geagea at a rally organized by the LF student department in Maarab under the slogan “Hands Off Lebanon”.
“We have only asked you to end your harm against us!” Geagea added.
Apparently addressing the Hizbullah-led camp, the LF leader went on to say: “Who told you that we are scared? Who asked you to protect us? ... Who said that we are abandoned? Can't you see this whole army and its artillery, tanks, aircraft, soldiers and heroism?”
“If at a certain time the army loses its ability (to defend Lebanon), we will be the ones to stand up and fight, not you,” he noted.
According to media reports, a battle for Syria's border region of al-Qalamun is imminent and Hizbullah and the Syrian army are making the final preparations for the fight against the rebels and jihadists who are entrenched there.
“Hizbullah's preparations with the Syrian army are focused on a battle that will fortify al-Qalamun's villages and those on the Lebanese side of the border,” a high-ranking March 8 camp official told al-Joumhouria newspaper in remarks published Friday.
Hizbullah has sent fighters across the border to aid Syrian regime troops in Qalamun and in several regions across Syria. The Lebanese army for its part has been battling Syria-based militants from al-Nusra and the IS who are deployed on the porous border between Lebanon and Syria.
In his speech on Friday, Geagea pointed out that “the Syrian regime harmed Lebanon the most and everyday we're observing its acts against its own people.”
“March 14 is not a partisan movement ... but rather a national necessity. Imagine what would have been left of Lebanon without March 14,” Geagea added.
Slamming Hizbullah for alleged interference in “Syria, Iraq and Yemen,” the LF leader underlined that his March 14 coalition has preserved “what is left of the Lebanese state.”
“I call on all Lebanese to support March 14, because this is the only project that can pull us out of our crisis and give us a strong state, a state of law that can preserve Lebanon's sovereignty and independence, a state that can maintain its neutrality, a state that works to secure the interests of the Lebanese rather than sacrificing them at the altar of causes that have nothing to do with Lebanon and the Lebanese,” Geagea added.
Y.R.
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