Geagea defending Rajji: Those who reject policy statement must resign from govt.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Thursday defended pro-LF Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji in the face of verbal attacks from Hezbollah officials against the backdrop of his latest stances on Hezbollah and its arms.

Geagea stressed that Rajji’s stances are not personal or partisan but reflect those of the Lebanese president, prime minister and government.

“The era of chaos and the usurpation of the state’s decisions is over and the time of the actual state that alone monopolizes arms and controls war and peace decisions has come,” Geagea added.

“These rogue voices are foiling all the attempts of the new presidential tenure for the rise of an actual state in Lebanon and subsequently for removing Israel from the points it has occupied,” the LF leader said.

“These rogue voices must allow the Lebanese to rest and must make way for the rise of an actual state in Lebanon … Those who reject the Ministerial Statement and the state’s official policy must resign from the government, instead of spending their time attacking the foreign minister over his commitment to the official stances,” Geagea went on to say.

In an interview with the al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper, Rajji said that Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem “can say what he wants” about the army-people-resistance equation but added that “the Lebanese people no longer want this outdated equation.”

“This is an outlaw armed group and it is not legitimate. We ask it to seek a solution, hand over its weapons and form a normal political party that has the creed it wants. I support total creed freedom and let its fighters return to their normal life and each member to their job,” the minister added.