Geagea Calls for Swift Formation of Cabinet, Urges Hizbullah to Reconsider Policies

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea condemned on Friday any terrorist act that aims at destabilizing the country, considering that Bir al-Abed neighborhood's blast is linked to Hizbullah's intervention in the conflict in the neighboring country Syria.

“We will have to confront a more dangerous situation if the party hold on to the its policies,” Geagea said in an interview with al-Liwaa newspaper.

He called on Hizbullah to reconsider its policies and political stances to evade a crisis in Lebanon.

Tuesday's Bir al-Abed car bomb attack, which wounded 53 people, was the most serious incident in Beirut's suburbs since the start of the Syria war more than two years ago.

“It's hard to convince Hizbullah to change its approach and return to the state,” the Christian leader said.

Asked about his stance from the Salafists and the radical Islamist movements, Geagea said that he “has the same stance for them that he has for Hizbullah... The LF expressed support to the army after the Abra clashes with (Salafist cleric Sheikh Ahmed) al-Asir's supporters.”

“Assaulting the army is a red line,” he told al-Liwaa newspaper.

Al-Asir, a 45-year-old cleric who is no where to be found since last month's deadly gunbattles between his gunmen and the Lebanese army, resurfaced Thursday in an alleged audio message in which he described the clashes as a plot against him.

Geagea said that the only way to resolve the current disputes in the country and avert a Sunni-Shiite strife is to end Hizbullah's provocations.

Concerning Prime Minister Tammam Salam's exerted efforts to form a new cabinet, Geagea reiterated demands that Hizbullah shouldn't participate in the government line-up as “it will only shatter the state's neutrality policy.”

Salam is seeking to form a cabinet divided equally between the Lebanese foes and the centrists and rejects to grant the veto power to any party.

The LF leader called on Salam to swiftly form his government and stop wasting time.

Geagea expressed fear that the country might slip into a political vacuum, saying that Speaker Nabih Berri's insistence on holding a parliamentary session with a wide agenda was unconstitutional.

“We insist as a March 14 alliance on extending Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji and former ISF chief Ashraf Rifi's tenure,” he pointed out.

Acting ISF chief Brig. Gen. Roger Salem took over the post of Rifi after his retirement, who was succeeded in turn by Brig. Gen. Ibrahim Basbous last month.

Qahwaji's term ends this September when he turns 60, the maximum age for the post of the army commander.

Sharp dispute also emerged between the Free Patriotic Movement and its March 8 allies over the matter, prompting Berri to announce that the coalition is no longer unifies it previous demands to obtain veto power in the cabinet are dropped in light of the differences.

“If Berri's statements are not a trick then new political alliances will be created,” Geagea said.

The extension, in addition to several other draft-laws, has been put on the agenda of a three-day parliamentary session that Berri has called for on July 16.

But caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati and the March 14 alliance stand firm on boycotting it over their claim that holding such a session with a resigned government was unconstitutional, unless it was set to discuss a “critical” draft law.