Naharnet

Geagea Lauds Suleiman's Speech, Slams Hizbullah for 'Launching War' on Lebanon

Lebanese Forces leader Geagea called on Sunday for support to President Michel Suleiman and hinted that the rocket attacks on the Baabda area this week came from a Hizbullah stronghold.

Suleiman's speech on Army Day was “purely constitutional,” Geagea told Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) in an interview.

“It urges support to the president and we are the first to do so,” he said.

“For the first time in 25 years we feel that we have a president,” Geagea said about Suleiman, who on his Army Day speech stressed that it was time for the state to become the sole-decision maker on the use of force.

Suleiman also criticized Hizbullah for “going beyond Lebanon's borders” by helping Syrian troops battle rebels seeking to overthrow Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Geagea stressed that it was a waste of time to hold dialogue with Hizbullah, which he described as “totalitarian.”

“It is a strategic party” which is “launching war on Lebanon, the Lebanese and the state of Lebanon,” he said. “As a Lebanese citizen, I don't accept for the party to take any strategic decisions on my behalf.”

Geagea hinted he would continue to boycott the national dialogue if the all-party talks under Suleiman resumed at Baabda palace.

“Dialogue with Hizbullah means that we agree to its proposals,” he mocked. “Let those who want to try it out take such a move.”

Turning to the latest rocket attacks on the area of Baabda, Geagea said the attacks came only hours after the speech made by Suleiman on Thursday.

“Up till now, military experts haven't found the launchpads,” the LF chief said, adding that there was information that the rockets were placed on trucks in the areas of Dohat Aramoun and Bshamoun.

“They were launched from areas that come under the military control of a certain party,” he told VDL.

“Who has the ability to move freely” in those areas? Geagea wondered, saying he would leave it to the Lebanese people to decide on the answer, in a hint to Hizbullah's involvement in the attacks.

He called for “strong judicial measures” to arrest the perpetrators.


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