Geagea says Lebanese response almost identical to what Hezbollah wants

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Tuesday accused President Joseph Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri and PM Nawaf Salam of “undermining the constitution and the Lebanese institutions” by sidelining the government and parliament in their response to U.S. envoy Tom Barrack’s paper.

“Nothing in the constitution is called the three presidents. The center of the executive decision in the constitution is in the government and the center of the legislative decision is in parliament,” Geagea said.

The LF leader also claimed that the response delivered by Aoun, Berri and Salam to Barrack “came totally identical to what Hezbollah wanted, except for some cosmetic phrases.”

“Illegal weapons in Lebanon are not a U.S. problem and illegal weapons after the 2024 war are no longer an Israeli problem, but rather a Lebanese problem in the first place,” Geagea added.

“Disbanding these organizations has become a demand for the majority of the Lebanese people and a clear demand for all of Lebanon’s friends in the east and the west, especially for the Gulf countries, so that Lebanon’s friends regain their interest in it” and so that they help in “removing Israel from Lebanon and halting its military operations,” the LF leader said.

He added that the Lebanese response “subjects Lebanon to a lot of threats and further tragedies and woes,” adding that “those behind what happened will be held responsible for anything that might happen.”