Geagea Rejects Hizbullah Participation in Cabinet: March 8 Practices Resemble Takfiri Acts

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea stated on Wednesday that Hizbullah should not take part in any upcoming cabinet because it “rejected the state,” slamming March 8's “practices that model those of the Takfiris.”

"Hizbullah's messages were clear and the party should not take part in any cabinet,” Geagea said in a press conference he held in Maarab.

Referring to Hizbullah, Geagea elaborated: “A political group had said that it is not interested in the authority of the state. It overstepped the border, the independence, the National Pact, the laws, the Baabda Declaration and the constitution.”

“A cabinet should be formed with the participation of those interested in the Lebanese state's interests only, not in the interests of Syria, Iran, the United States, or the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”

Geagea urged Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam to form “a harmonious cabinet that works for the Lebanese people's interests.”

“All security issues in the country will only be resolved if a Lebanese cabinet was formed.”

Tackling the death of Lebanese Option Party member Hashem Salman on Sunday, Geagea considered it “an attempt to eliminate the opposing point of view in the country.

“These practices are similar to assassinations,” he remarked.

“The March 8 coalition is acting like the Takfiris while they kept for over a year warning us of al-Qaida presence in Lebanon.”

Geagea criticized the security forces' behavior during Sunday's incident, expressing that it is the “peak of the state's dissolution and weakness when people are killed right in front of the official bodies.”

"The killing of Salman took place in the presence of security forces and I demand the Army Commander to probe the incident. What is required today is for these bodies to try the perpetrators in court. They are known and identified and should be arrested,”

He noted: “It is not acceptable for the state to keep acting in a manner far from reality.”

The LF leader warned that Lebanese citizens “are worried because of recent security developments.”

“If the state does not act over Salman's death, it would give the impression that authorities are not present to defend the people who will have to take matters into their own hands,” he explained.

Salman was killed on Sunday and at least eleven others were wounded in a scuffle between supporters of Hizbullah and protesters near the Iranian embassy in Beirut.

The Demonstrators were holding a sit-in near the embassy in the Bir Hassan area south of Beirut, to protest Hizbullah's involvement in the war raging in Syria.

According to LBCI television, all the wounded belong to the Lebanese Option Party, which is led by the March 14 Shiite politician Ahmed Asaad.

The Christian leader slammed “political interference in the Constitutional Council's work.”

"The Council became paralyzed. We support holding its session and we had said from the beginning that we will back any decision it takes.”

Geagea reiterated his rejection of holding the parliamentary elections on time.

He said: “Taking into consideration the exceptional circumstances in Lebanon and because we don't support elections based on the 1960's law, we think the time now is not appropriate for the polls to take place.”

The Constitutional Council, which was set to study petitions filed against the extension of parliament’s term, failed to convene on Tuesday over lack of quorum, a sign that several of its members intended to validate the extension law.

The approval or the rejection of the petitions filed by President Michel Suleiman and the Change and Reform bloc requires the go-ahead of seven out of the council's 10 members.

But a lack of quorum would make the 17-month extension law valid after the end of parliament's mandate on June 20.

As Safir newspaper had quoted highly-informed sources as saying on Tuesday that the five Christian members are in favor of approving the challenges made by Suleiman and the bloc respectively on June 1 and June 3.

But the council's two Shiite members in addition to the Druze judge did not attend Tuesday's meeting to prevent the required 8-member quorum.

Regarding the Army Command's statement on Wednesday that vowed to hit back against any Syrian aggression, Geagea said: “The border with Syria should be controlled first, and later the army can retaliate against violations.”

“It is not logical for the military institution to hit back when gunmen are moving through the border without any restrictions,” he pointed out.