Geagea Hails Syrian Opposition Call for Better Ties, Says Lebanon Should Seek U.N. Intervention if Attacked
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea hoped on Thursday that a statement issued by the Syrian National Council would put Lebanese-Syrian relations on the right path and called for U.N. Security Council action if Lebanon comes under attack by Syria.
The Council, which is Syria’s leading opposition movement, said Wednesday that it wants to start a new chapter in the complex and often-troubled relationship with Lebanon.
In remarks to reporters, Geagea said it remains to be seen if the Council’s request would be met, stressing that it is a good way to repair ties.
The LF leader also lamented that the Syrian navy attack on three Lebanese fishermen off the coast of the northern town of Arida earlier this month was a “political message to those concerned.”
Unfortunately the message was sent after shedding the blood of Lebanese, he said.
Sixteen-year-old Maher Hamad was killed after the Syrian navy opened fire on his boat off Arida. His uncles Fadi and Khaled Hamad, who were with him, were seized and handed over to the Lebanese army the next day.
The government should ask for an apology from the Syrian authorities over the Arida incident, Geagea said.
He also stressed that the Lebanese government should stop any attack on Lebanon or resort to the U.N. Security Council if Syria infringes on its sovereignty again.
Or else the government would be complicit with Syria against its own people, he warned.
About a decision by Lebanon to steer itself clear of the Assad regime’s deadly crackdown on Syrian protestors, Geagea said President Michel Suleiman and Premier Najib Miqati should “give clear indications to Foreign Minister (Adnan Mansour) on a true policy of keeping a distance (from the Syrian) crisis and not just in words.”
The LF leader called for a fair implementation of the law, rejecting the “persecution” of Syrian refugees in Lebanon.
“Lebanon is in its nature the land of freedom and we won’t allow any authority to tarnish its image,” he warned. “We support the implementation of the law equally and (reject) to politically target” the refugees.
On the scandal of the red diesel that shook Lebanon last week, Geagea urged state-run inspection boards and all judicial agencies to follow up the case until the truth is revealed.
“We can’t continue to live in an atmosphere of scandals,” he said.
An investigation into the case was launched on Tuesday after reports said that the oil refinery in the North distributed to oil companies 8 million liters of red diesel at a subsidized price hours before the end of the government deadline for a one-month LL3,000 subsidy.
The red diesel was later reportedly sold at higher prices giving millions of dollars of benefits to the companies.
Another crisis that has rocked Lebanon is severe electricity cuts throughout the country.
“It is strange that the party calling for demonstrations is the same party that is at the helm of the energy ministry,” Geagea quipped about calls by Energy Minister Jebran Bassil, who is a Free Patriotic Movement official, to the people to demonstrate against electricity rationing.
Bassil is accusing several parties of hindering the implementation of his $1.2 billion electricity project that was adopted by the cabinet last September.
“Why wouldn’t the energy minister cut electricity from those not paying bills” as a solution to the power crisis? Geagea wondered.
Source: Naharnet
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