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Geagea from Abu Dhabi: This is an Anti-Modernity, Anti-Arab, and Anti-Lebanon Cabinet

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea slammed on Thursday the new government, saying that it does not represent Lebanon and will set the country back to a time before the 2005 Cedar Revolution.

He said during a dinner for Lebanese expatriates in Abu Dhabi: “We will work with all possible democratic means to topple this cabinet.”

“This is an anti-modernity, anti-development, anti-Arab, and anti-Lebanon government,” he declared.

“The other camp sought through the Special Tribunal for Lebanon clause in the cabinet policy statement to shy away from Lebanon’s commitment to the tribunal,” he added.

“We are now living under a government that is not demanding a solution to Hizbullah’s possession of arms, on the contrary it confirms its presence,” Geagea said.

“We have nothing but respect for Prime Minister Najib Miqati, but when they say that this is his cabinet, we wish it really was so,” he stated.

He noted that this is the “others’ cabinet”, which happens to be headed by Miqati, repeating his statements that the government actually belongs to Hizbullah and Syria.

Earlier on Thursday, Geagea told Al-Arabiya satellite TV network that Hizbullah “drew lessons” from the infamous May 2008 clashes, noting that he agrees with Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah that “there won’t be a civil strife in Lebanon during this period.”

He noted that “the previous government was not March 14’s government, but rather a national unity government.”

“Had the government been our government, things could’ve required a civil war to arrest the Hizbullah members” wanted by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon for an alleged role in the 2005 assassination of former premier Rafik Hariri.

“But today it only takes a simple decision by Hizbullah to hand over these members,” he told his interviewer.

Answering a question on Hizbullah’s weapons, Geagea responded: “What do you want us to do should Hizbullah decide to use its weapons? At that point we have the right to defend ourselves should the State fail to defend us.”

The LF leader returned to Lebanon Thursday night after a visit to the UAE that lasted several days.


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