Geagea says Nasrallah’s speech “declaration of war”
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s speech was “equivalent to a declaration of war.”
Geagea urged Nasrallah and the Hezbollah leadership to reconsider the announcements made in Nasrallah’s press conference Thursday – the first in two years – “or the matter will lead to ruin.”
The LF leader said he supported the need to announce a state of emergency and allow the army and Internal Security Forces to control escalating armed clashes across Beirut. “All the Lebanese Forces’ efforts today are poured toward allowing the army and security forces to shoulder their responsibility,” he added.
Geagea denied the Hezbollah-owned Al-Manar satellite channel’s accusation that LF snipers were located on rooftops across the Sodeco area in Ashrafieh. “There are complete lies,” he stated. Geagea said such fabrications were an attempt by Hezbollah to “regain its Islamic presence, which can only be regained by portraying the battle as between them and the Christians, and specifically the Lebanese Forces.”
Earlier on Thursday, the Lebanese Forces denied all accusations articulated by former Minister Sleiman Franjieh in an interview with OTV on Wednesday night.
Franjieh accused the LF of having armed members in Christian areas throughout Lebanon, to which the LF responded by calling on “all citizens and all media sources and monitors to witness the lies of Franjieh.” The LF issued a statement saying January 23, 2007 was proof of the truth behind the matter.