Geagea Says Won't Appear before Court without Nasrallah
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Thursday announced that he will not appear before the Military Court over the Tayyouneh clashes if Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is not also summoned.
“If ‘Hizbullah's commissioner’ to the Military Court truly wants to hear my testimony, I am ready, but he must first listen to Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's testimony,” said Geagea in an interview with MTV.
“The days of the Our Lady of Salvation Church are over and we will never allow a return to those days,” he added, referring to a deadly 1994 bombing against a church in Zouk that was blamed on him. Geagea spent 11 years in solitary confinement in the wake of the incident before he was eventually acquitted. The LF accused the so-called Syrian-Lebanese security apparatus of staging the bombing in order to frame the LF and its leader.
A judicial official told AFP earlier in the day that State Commissioner to the Military Court Fadi Akiki has "instructed the army intelligence to summon Geagea and take his statement based on information provided by arrested LF members." Twenty-six people were arrested after the violence in Tayyouneh, most of them LF members, the official added.
Hizbullah and Amal have accused the LF of "deploying snipers on rooftops" and opening fire on "peaceful protesters." The Lebanese Forces has meanwhile denied using snipers while noting that it was Ain al-Remmaneh’s residents who "defended themselves" in the face of an "invasion" by the supporters of the two groups. Geagea also said recently that one of the protesters opened fire from a handgun, injuring four people, before any shots were fired from Ain al-Remmaneh.
“We always make correct calculations and our choice is not war,” Geagea said in Thursday’s interview, responding to remarks by Nasrallah.
“Where is this Christian canton that Sayyed Nasrallah spoke of?” he asked.
“Let no one think that the confrontation with Hizbullah is military. The confrontation is political par excellence,” he added.
Denying that the LF has armed groups, Geagea said: “Rifles exist in all Lebanese houses but military organizations are something else.”
As for the remarks that Nasrallah addressed to Christians, Geagea said: “Hizbullah's project is the most project that contradicts with the Christians' project for Lebanon, which is preserving the state's entity, so Sayyed Hassan should calm down.”
“I challenge Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah to prove that we have anything to do with Daesh and al-Nusra,” he added.
Asked whether the LF has 15,000 fighters as political accusations and media reports have suggested, Geagea said: “We do not have fighters. We rather have 35,000 party members.”
Responding to a question, Geagea said the LF has no problem in the referral of the Tayyouneh incidents to the Judicial Council but added that “there should not be manipulation.”
“The Tayyouneh clashes were neither an ambush nor a sniping operation. Hizbullah rather wanted to stage a ‘new May 7’ to halt the probe into the Beirut port blast,” he said.
“I don't know who fired the first shot, but what I know is that the first four wounded were injured in Ain el-Remmaneh,” he added.
Told that the dead belong to one side -- the side of Hizbullah and Amal -- Geagea said “let the investigations say who killed” the clashes’ seven victims.
Asked why he has focused his criticism on Hizbullah and not on Amal, Geagea said: “We disagree with Amal over the way the state is being run and the electoral law, but at least we agree with them over acknowledging Lebanon as a final homeland, contrary to Hizbullah.”
“All Lebanese are fed up with Hizbullah and its practices,” he stressed.
As for Hizbullah’s insistence on Judge Tarek Bitar’s removal, Geagea said: “I have deduced from Sayyed Nasrallah's remarks that Hizbullah was involved in the port explosion case.”
“Sayyed Nasrallah is in a great dilemma and Hizbullah does not want any investigation into the port blast,” he added.
He also said that the Tayyouneh clashes were “unfortunate” and “should not have happened.”
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21 October 2021, 22:08
Geagea: We always make correct calculations and our choice is not war.
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21 October 2021, 22:02
Geagea: Where is this Christian canton that Sayyed Nasrallah spoke of?
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21 October 2021, 21:58
Geagea: They can kill one person or five people but they can't kill four million Lebanese people.
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21 October 2021, 21:57
Geagea: Let no one think that the confrontation with Hizbullah is military. The confrontation is political par excellence.
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21 October 2021, 21:54
Geagea: Rifles exist in all Lebanese houses but military organizations are something else.
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21 October 2021, 21:53
Geagea: Hizbullah's project is the most project that contradicts with the Christians' project for Lebanon, which is preserving the state's entity, so Sayyed Hassan should calm down.
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21 October 2021, 21:48
Geagea: I challenge Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah to prove that we have anything to do with Daesh and al-Nusra.
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21 October 2021, 21:39
Geagea: We do not have fighters. We rather have 35,000 party members.
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21 October 2021, 21:30
Geagea: We have no problem in the referral of the Tayyouneh incidents to the Judicial Council but there should not be manipulation.
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21 October 2021, 21:25
Geagea: The Tayyouneh clashes were neither an ambush nor a sniping operation. Hizbullah rather wanted to stage a "new May 7" to halt the probe into the Beirut port blast.
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21 October 2021, 21:21
Geagea: I don't know who fired the first shot, but what I know is that the first four wounded were injured in Ain el-Remmaneh.
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21 October 2021, 21:19
Geagea: Let the investigations say who killed the Dahiyeh young men.
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21 October 2021, 21:13
Geagea: We disagree with Amal over the way the state is being run and the electoral law, but at least we agree with them over acknowledging Lebanon as a final homeland, contrary to Hizbullah.
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21 October 2021, 21:11
Geagea: All Lebanese are fed up with Hizbullah and its practices.
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21 October 2021, 21:06
Geagea: I have deduced from Sayyed Nasrallah's remarks that Hizbullah was involved in the port explosion case.
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21 October 2021, 21:05
Geagea: Sayyed Nasrallah is in a great dilemma and Hizbullah does not want any investigation into the port blast.
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21 October 2021, 21:03
Geagea: In 1975, Ain al-Remmaneh was a symbol of Christians' resilience, and in 2021 Ain al-Remmaneh became a symbol for the resilience of all Lebanese.
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21 October 2021, 21:01
Geagea: The days of the Our Lady of Salvation Church are over and we will never allow a return to those days.
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21 October 2021, 20:55
Geagea: If "Hizbullah's commissioner" to the Military Court truly wants to hear my testimony, I am ready, but he must first listen to Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's testimony.
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21 October 2021, 20:53
Geagea: The Tayyouneh clashes were unfortunate and should not have happened.
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21 October 2021, 20:52
Geagea: Nasrallah's remarks were a "poisoned gift" and were full of rumors and lies.
21 October 2021, 21:15
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Geagea: If "Hizbullah's commissioner" to the Military Court truly wants to hear my testimony, I am ready, but he must first listen to Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's testimony.
Absolutely, otherwise let everybody know we are on the verge of another civil war.
21 October 2021, 21:38
13
I may not support any civil war era protagonist but there’s logic in Samir Geagea’s words, I saw an army of black shirts firing RPGs on civilian homes in Badaro and vicinity.
The crooked military court should focus on the reason why the army and Joseph Aoun isn’t arresting the Beirut Port related wanted criminals, the ministers and MPs with pending arrest warrants .
21 October 2021, 23:01
14
Hezballah's riveting yarn is that they knew the night before that the Lebanese forces was preparing for an ambush. So the next day their peaceful demonstrators deviate from the original route of the march, down Samy el Solh boulevard, charge down a side street* bulldozing their way past a few of Lebanese army soldiers guarding the entrance, stat vandalizing cars, shops and anything else they can, even try to break into building, all this while they slowly make their way towards the Lebanese Force ambush, they claim was prepared the previous night. Sure, that makes so much sense only to a brain damaged two year old or someone who uses Tatbir in lieu of calisthenics as a way to stay fit.
*As the videos show that was their third attempt to enter a side street from Samy el Solh boulevard, having failed twice because there was a greater number of Lebanese Army soldiers blocking their way.
22 October 2021, 21:17
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We have no problem with traveling north to Tripoli for enjoying traditional food or walking in ancient markets. Enjoying our evenings in Batroun, Ehden, Bcharri or Akkar. Being it west or east Beirut. But the problem arises when passing a line somewhere before to airport. All of a sudden the Iranian flags are all over. We have no business in Dahiye, what can we find? Prostitution and Captagon pills? Its more or less Mogadishu for us. Nor do we have any business in parts of Lebanon considered Iranian military zone. We the Lebanese have our own flag in our own country, its red and with with OUR cedar in the middle. When this flag sway all over the country, then we can have a discussion. Agreed?
22 October 2021, 04:42
14
Just wondering if the fascist Military Court had summoned Hassan Nassrallah following the May7th invasion of Beirut.
22 October 2021, 13:54
01
What happened t o the investigation of wafiq safa threat of a judge in the justice department?
Which led to mortadella threat in the Babda meeting not to arrest Khalil by the interior minister.
