Geagea accuses Hezbollah of enabling Israeli occupation of south Lebanon
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea lashed out Monday at Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem, accusing him of bringing about the Israeli occupation of south Lebanon, after Qassem criticized the framework agreement with Israel.
Qassem on Sunday told supporters gathered in Dahieh to mark two years since the killing of longtime leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah that with the framework agreement, "the authorities are helping the Israeli-U.S. project instead of confronting it".
"The Lebanese state is the one supposed to confront Israel — provided you step out of the way and give it the chance to," Geagea said. "However, it will not be able to do anything if you keep obstructing and undermining its efforts to reclaim the land. In reality, the very party helping the Israeli project is yours."
Geagea said Hezbollah has for decades violated the Constitution and the Taif Agreement — "by hijacking the state’s decision-making power and manipulating it according to your own whims, contrary to the interests of the Lebanese people and the Lebanese state".
After a November 2024 ceasefire, Lebanese authorities committed to disarming Hezbollah, and later banned the group's military activities.
"All the pressure on Lebanon today aims to accomplish what Israel was unable to achieve over two years," Qassem said, adding that the Lebanese national army should not be used as "a tool" against the group.
Violence in Lebanon has decreased since a fragile ceasefire announced in June after the signing of a U.S.-Iran understanding on the broader conflict.
Lebanon and Israel reached the framework agreement later that month, under which Hezbollah is supposed to disarm and the Lebanese military to deploy in so-called pilot zones in south Lebanon as Israel withdraws.
But progress has largely stalled, with Israel warning it will stay put as long as Hezbollah remains a threat.
Israel has kept up its attacks and maintains troops in a self-declared "security zone" running around 10 kilometers inside south Lebanon.
Israel's far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich called on Sunday for the annexation of areas of south Lebanon under Israeli military control "as far as the Litani River", which runs about 30 kilometers from the Israeli border.
Qassem said holding onto positions "is not the main objective" for his group, after Israel carried out massive detonations this month to destroy Hezbollah infrastructure on the strategic Ali al-Taher ridge.
"We are ready for dialogue and discussion, but first, liberate the south, and let the people return," Qassem said.
Geagea responded that it will not be possible to liberate the land and let the people return before Hezbollah is disarmed.
He argued that Lebanon on its own cannot expel Israel and undertake reconstruction; it needs its friends, including Saudi Arabia, the Gulf states, European countries, and the United States. "Yet those countries are not willing to help" unless Hezbollah is disarmed, he said.
"Your resistance achieved the exact opposite of what you claim. You brought about the Israeli occupation of the South. Refusing to surrender is not achieved by handing Israel, the international community, and Lebanon’s friends every possible excuse to keep Israel inside Lebanon. True resistance lies in uniting Lebanon’s allies around it and building a real state that works to expel Israel from its land".
Qassem said Israel had been unable to break Hezbollah. "With the great sacrifices that we have made up until now, we can only keep going, and we cannot be defeated," he vowed.
Source: Naharnet, Agence France Presse
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://mobile.naharnet.com/stories/en/322767 |