Geagea says Hezbollah's Qassem seems to be 'on another planet'

Hezbollah leader Sheikh Naim Qassem seems "as if he's on another planet" to Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea who criticized Qassem's "unrealistic" statements, in an interview with LBCI on Wednesday night.

Geagea said foreign countries will not help Lebanon or deal with the Lebanese state as long as Hezbollah is keeping its "illegal" arms. "There will be no reconstruction, no financial rescue — all of that is now suspended, frozen, and paralyzed, until Hezbollah disarms. No one will want to deal with the state in such a situation."

Geagea praised Prime Minister Nawaf Salam's stance on Hezbollah's arms but urged President Joseph Aoun to set a deadline for the disarmament of the group. "Salam's stances are very clear but Aoun's dialogue can not be indefinitely open. A timeframe is needed, decisive decisions are needed, although no one wants conflict," he said.

Aoun and Hezbollah have been exchanging messages and the president met with a delegation from Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc on Monday. Aoun has long stressed that disarming Hezbollah should happen through a calm dialogue warning against the use of force or dealing hastily with the matter.

Hezbollah's leader said the group will not discuss giving up its remaining weapons until Israel withdraws from the five border points it occupies in southern Lebanon and stops its airstrikes.

"We have completely adhered" to the ceasefire agreement, Qassem said, adding: "Don’t ask us for anything else from now on. Let Israel withdraw, stop its aggression, release the prisoners and fulfill all obligations under the agreement. After that, we will discuss each new development."

Geagea responded that Hezbollah has no right to impose conditions and sarcastically added that the group failed to liberate Lebanese land through the use of force. "Can Hezbollah make Israel withdraw by force? Than why hasn't it done that?"

Hezbollah was left badly weakened by more than a year of hostilities with Israel, beginning with the group's campaign of rocket fire at its arch-foe in support of Gaza, and culminating in a major Israeli bombing campaign and ground incursion into Lebanon.

"We need to implement the ceasefire deal. A Peace treaty with Israel is not our priority now," Geagea said, amid talks about a possible normalization of ties with Israel.

Israel's ambassador to the U.S. had said earlier this month that Syria and Lebanon could join the Abraham Accords and normalize relations with Israel even before Saudi Arabia. "I am very optimistic about the potential of an Abraham Accord with Syria and Lebanon," Ambassador Yechiel Leiter said.