Geagea says Hezbollah 'hasn't learned anything', throws support behind Salam

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Friday said that the Raouche Rock event proved that “Hezbollah has not learned anything from everything that has happened and has not drawn lessons from the tragedies it plunged Lebanon and the Lebanese into.”

“In whose face was the finger raised yesterday on the Raouche Rock? The Israeli attacks on Lebanon are countless, so was that finger raised to confront them? Or was it raised in the face of the majority of Beirut’s residents and the Lebanese in general?” Geagea wondered, referring to a laser illustration of Nasrallah’s famous finger gesture that was beamed onto the Raouche Rock during Thursday’s event.

“What happened at the Raouche Rock represents an additional black mark in Hezbollah’s record, at a time the majority of the Lebanese -- represented in PM Nawaf Salam’s government, which won parliament’s confidence twice in six months -- is working on convincing the Lebanese first, Arabs second and the world third that Lebanon is not a lawless land and that there is an actual possibility for the rise of a real state in it,” Geagea added.

He, however, reassured that “all of this shall not pass, seeing as an actual state has started to form in Lebanon over the past months and nothing will stand in the face of its complete rise.”

Geagea also criticized security agencies for not preventing the illumination of the rock with the pictures of Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine, saying security forces “acted as if they had nothing to do with laws or with enforcing them.”

Saluting Salam for “his continuous efforts for the rise of the aspired state,” Geagea called on security and judicial agencies to summon those who were granted the permission to organize the event to hold them accountable for violating the conditions.

He also called on the defense and interior ministers to conduct the necessary internal investigations to “determine responsibilities and fill the gaps.”

“The Lebanese people have been longing for a long time to see the rise of the state of law and this start has truly started. That’s why, we in the Lebanese Forces, along with all the loyal ones in this country, will never be lenient with any attempt to obstruct the rise of the state of law,” Geagea went on to say.

He also called on all Lebanese to throw their support behind their government and premier “in their strenuous endeavor for the rise of the aspired state.”