Geagea from Baabda: No Israeli withdrawal and no reconstruction of the South without one state, one army, and one weapon

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea stressed that “Lebanon cannot remain in the unknown, and Israel must withdraw from the South and reconstruction must take place, but for all of that to happen, a state must be established.”

Geagea made the remarks in a statement from Baabda Palace, where he met President General Joseph Aoun at the head of a delegation from the “Strong Republic” bloc. The delegation included MPs Strida Geagea, George Adwan, Elias Khoury, Antoine Habchi, Ghiyath Yazbek, Fadi Karam, George Okais, Elias Stephan, Ghassan Hasbani, Jihad Bakradouni, Melhem Riachy, Razi Hage, Ziad Hawat, Pierre Bou Assi, Nazih Matta, Ghada Ayoub, and سعيد الأسمر.

Geagea said that “we cannot do anything without the establishment of an actual state in Lebanon, and this requires that there be one army and one weapon,” adding: “We are all supposed to abide by the decisions issued by the Lebanese state, and constitutional legitimacy is embodied in the composition of Parliament and the government, and such concepts should not be used out of place.”

He added: “Of course we must expel Israel and rebuild the South, but neither will happen unless we establish a real state.”

He pointed out that “there is a Lebanese state represented by the President of the Republic and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, and it is this state that decides what to do on existential issues and matters related to the Israeli presence, not any other party,” explaining that “we urged President Aoun to continue pushing forward with the framework agreement, and ‘none of us is enamored with the agreement,’ but at present we have no other solution except negotiations.”

Responding to a question about “the state taking unilateral decisions,” he said: “That is exactly what it should do,” as it is not “the party” that decides what the state should do.

As for the “Islamabad track,” he stressed that “it concerns American and Iranian interests and has nothing to do with Lebanese interests; rather, it is only about Iran’s attempt to preserve its influence in Lebanon, which keeps us in the same vicious circle,” adding: “President Aoun intends to pursue the framework agreement through to the end, and we all know this is not easy. We must all line up behind the state instead of directing accusations at it.”