Geagea Responds to Qassem: What Naim Said Cannot Be Passed Over Casually!

Head of the Lebanese Forces Party Samir Geagea issued the following statement:

"I wished that, in this delicate situation Lebanon is going through, I would not enter into disputes with anyone, but what Sheikh Naim Qassem said yesterday cannot be passed over casually.

You accused the President of the Republic of violating the Constitution and the Taif Agreement, while those who violated the Constitution and Taif for decades are you. There is no need to elaborate much on this point, as it is clear as day, due to your confiscation of state decision-making and acting according to your whims, contrary to the interests of the Lebanese people and the Lebanese state, and against the Constitution from its first line to its last."

He added: "Sheikh Naim also addressed the sovereignists saying: 'Why don't you resist the aggression?' Our reply is: We were the first to resist from the very first moment until the present, but in the appropriate and correct manner, which led to suitable and sound results, not in your way, where your resistance led to the opposite of what you claim, by bringing Israel to occupy the south and the silence of the whole world about this occupation due to your blatant role.

Sheikh Naim said: 'If some accept surrender, we do not accept it.' To Sheikh Naim we say: We are the first not to accept surrender, but rejecting surrender is not done by giving Israel, the world, and friends of Lebanon all kinds of arguments to keep Israel in Lebanon, whereas actual resistance is by gathering friends of Lebanon around it, and establishing an effective state that works to expel Israel from its land."

He continued: "As for your saying 'The problem is not the resistance but Israel,' the intention is to keep your weapons, and there is no need to remind that these weapons exist primarily for Iranian goals rather than to defend Lebanon against Israel. In all cases, the one supposed to confront Israel, provided you leave the field for him, is the Lebanese state. This state, with its institutions elected by the majority of Lebanese, bears the responsibility of addressing the Israeli issue, but it will not be able to do anything because of your obstruction of its path, paralysis of its role, and abortion of efforts to recover lands. The one who actually helps the Israeli project is your military and security presence outside national consensus and state logic, and outside Arab and international will. Sheikh Naim considered that 'any discussion of the weapons file will not be possible before liberating the land and returning people and prisoners.' The answer is that the opposite is true: As all current political facts indicate, it will not be possible to liberate the land and return people before dismantling Hezbollah's military and security wings and establishing an effective state. This continuous linking between weapons and Israel for 36 years has cost Lebanon and the Lebanese heavy prices in terms of humans and infrastructure, and it is no longer permissible. Let us be objective at least; Lebanon alone will not be able to expel Israel, nor rebuild; it needs its friends, foremost among them Saudi Arabia, Gulf states, European countries, and the United States of America. These countries are not ready to help Lebanon before it becomes an effective state and strategic decision-making returns within the state."

Geagea said: "In response to Sheikh Naim Qassem's question: 'Where is the government regarding the deteriorating economic situation, high cost of living, and lack of any improvement in services? Where is electricity and where is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs?' The reason behind all of this, Sheikh Naim, is you, as a result of your confiscation of state decision-making across various institutions over two decades, leading to the financial gap and economic, financial, and living deterioration we still suffer from today. Electricity was under your responsibility and then went to your allies for two decades, and what we live through today is due to your practices and those of your allies, but the situation will not remain as it is waiting for cleaning up what you left behind, which requires some time, and this is what the current minister is doing, focusing on cleaning up your heavy legacy of mismanagement, corruption, and disregard for people's interests.

As for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we refer you to the testimony of the overwhelming majority of Lebanese and their acknowledgment that this is the first time they feel there is a foreign ministry for Lebanon speaking on behalf of the majority of Lebanese and in the name of Lebanese legitimacy, applying cabinet decisions, the constitution, and Lebanese priorities. The country witnessed some improvement with the election of President Joseph Aoun and the formation of Prime Minister Nawaf Salam's government, but you returned to bringing ruin through Tehran's support war at the expense of Lebanon and the Lebanese, returning Lebanon to square one of financial and living deterioration.

In addition, Lebanon desperately needs aid to address the situations and crises you caused, and these funds will only come through friends of Lebanon who will not pay a single cent because of you.

As for Sheikh Naim's saying that 'people in Lebanon understand each other,' this is precisely what happened in the last two years, where people understood each other through everything that happened in the parliament, from electing a president, appointing a prime minister, and forming a government that gained the confidence of the parliament for the third time almost two weeks ago."

Geagea concluded, saying: "This government, which gained confidence, took clear decisions on August 5 and 7 to disarm Hezbollah, and on March 2 to dissolve the party's military and security organization, and you are the only ones working against the will of the people.

Those who know history know well, Sheikh Naim, that everyone who tried to erase the meaning of Lebanon disappeared from existence. Your saying that 'Lebanon without resistance disappears' is true if it is resistance for Lebanon, as our resistances have been for centuries, not resistance for Iran at the expense of the meaning of Lebanon."