Geagea Says Lebanese Need President 'Who Doesn't Compromise', Urges Security Plan
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea stressed Tuesday that “the Lebanese need a president who does not compromise,” calling for an urgent plan to address the dire security situations in Tripoli and the Bekaa.
“The battle of the presidential vote is the battle of the March 14 forces and the presidency is not for paving the ground for a political leadership but rather for selecting a strong president who has a clear vision for Lebanon according to March 14's legitimate political objectives,” Geagea said.
He stressed that “the Lebanese need a president who does not compromise but who rather takes clear and bold stances, as one cannot compromise in the issues of sovereignty, combating the kidnap gangs and removing arms from non-state actors.”
“Reaching the presidential seat requires full coordination with our allies in March 14, because today's battle is March 14's battle, the battle of entire Lebanon,” Geagea added.
Geagea voiced his remarks during a meeting with a popular delegation from the Bekaa area of Deir al-Ahmar, in the wake of an attempt to abduct Maronite Bishop Semaan Atallah, head of the Baalbek-Deir al-Ahmar dioceses.
“I made several phone calls to address this issue, especially with Prime Minister Tammam Salam and Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq, who informed me that they have decided to put an end, once and for all, to all kidnap operations, after things reached an intolerable extent,” Geagea told the delegation.
He revealed that Salam and Mashnouq are seeking to devise “an urgent security plan for entire Bekaa as well as for the city of Tripoli, which has been suffering for more than two years, especially after the latest round of clashes that left dozens of people dead and hundreds wounded.”
“Enough is enough in Tripoli. Seriously, I say in the name of us all that things have become totally unacceptable,” he added.
“There is only one possible solution, which is that the security forces and Lebanese Army become in charge of the city's security once and for all, because the army must be in control of the situation on the ground, not merely a disengagement force or a peacekeeping force between the warring groups,” Geagea said.
He called for a security plan under which “arms would be collected from all people and the army and security forces would become in charge of security in the city.”
Geagea noted that “it will be easier to address the security situation in the Bekaa, given the numerous complications in the capital of the North, because the process in the Bekaa only requires deterring some unrestrained gangs.”
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