Geagea: Lebanon Should Boycott the Summit If Presidential Void Persisted

 

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said Lebanon should boycott the forthcoming Arab Summit conference in Damascus if a president was not elected in advance.

 

Geagea made the remark to reporters after meeting US Charge Daffaires Michel Sison at his residence in Meerab, north of Beirut.

 

Geagea also said he encourages a postponement of the Arab Summit, scheduled for March 29, pending election of a president for Lebanon.

 

In answering a question about the U.S. role in the Middle East after assigning the USS Cole guided missile destroyer to international waters off the Lebanese coastline, Geagea said: “The United States has maintained presence in the Mediterranean for a long time. Therefore, we should not attach importance to this issue.”

 

“We would be mistaken to assume that the destroyer is sailing off the Lebanese coastline for reasons related toLebanon,” Geagea said.

 

“It comes to the Mediterranean within the framework of the major game underway in the region from the Mediterranean to the straits of Hormuz,” he added.

 

“Even Russia and China could make moves within this frame,” Geagea predicted.

 

He did not object to the sailing of Iranian warships in the Mediterranean “provided they are not in Lebanese territorial waters and do not land weapons on Lebanese coasts.