With a potential meeting to take place between Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the invitation of US President Donald Trump, the leader of Lebanon’s largest Christian party in parliament says direct negotiations are the only way to ensure his country’s survival.
“We have to do whatever in order to save our country, and we don't have any other way. And if anyone has any other way, let him tell us,” Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea told On the Record with Hadley Gamble.
At least 2,167 people have been killed and more than 7,060 injured by strikes on Lebanon in Israel's latest war with Hezbollah, a conflict that began on March 2. More than one million people, about 20 per cent of Lebanon’s population, have been displaced.
“The President and the Prime Minister [Nawaf Salam], they are doing [negotiations] by necessity,” Mr Geagea said. “Otherwise, what can we do? What should we do?”
He dismissed fears of imminent sectarian violence in Lebanon, but warned that state collapse could change that. “I don’t see it, frankly, except in one case, if the state administration falters down completely, like in 1975,” he added.
The head of the Lebanese Forces party, which has ministers in the cabinet, said his country was trapped by a “huge problem" – Iran-backed Hezbollah, whose actions, he said, were directly responsible for historic casualties and economic devastation. “These are the negotiations of necessity and Hezbollah is responsible for pushing the Lebanese government to negotiate,” he said.
Mr Geagea also claimed the Lebanese government has tried to assert authority over the group, but lacks the means to enforce it. “Hezbollah is calling the shots … unfortunately,” he added. The “state within a state" has been operating for 40 years, creating institutional paralysis and fear, which he called a “deep state".
He called the situation “Stockholm syndrome", which has affected “all the security apparatus, all the security services and the army and even some, if not many, of the judiciary".
Mr Geagea refused to pin the blame on Mr Aoun or Mr Salam. “The government has issued many decrees to the end of disbanding Hezbollah,” he said. He denied the government has failed, but rather Hezbollah "failed to respond to the government’s decrees".
He is one of the most prominent critics of the Iran-backed group and commanded the largest Christian militia during the second half of the 1975-1990 civil war. He seemed uncertain, when asked whether he could foresee a time when the country might be at peace with Israel.
“I don't know. I leave that to the future,” he added. “But for the time being, yes, we need the President of Lebanon to talk with the Israelis in order to try to finish up with this situation.”
Mr Geagea said he saw no alternative to US-brokered diplomacy, even if distrust remained, and considered Washington to be an “acceptable”, if not fair, broker. “Let’s just wait and see," he said. "Let us try at least."
