Geagea: Govt. Dispute Linked to Syrian Crisis

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea noted on Tuesday that the current government deadlock is linked to some sides in cabinet that “have never been productive.”

He told Voice of Lebanon radio: “The deadlock is also linked to the crisis in Syria.”

He made this statement without further elaboration, adding however that the sides in government that have caused the dispute “do not have a plan for reform and change.”

He made this remark in reference to the ministers of the Change and Reform bloc.

The government crisis erupted last week when Prime Minister Najib Miqati suspended a cabinet session at the Baabda Palace over an ongoing dispute over the issue of administrative appointments.

The suspension was prompted when Free Patriotic Movement ministers walked out from the session.

Geagea continued that these sides’ government agenda is linked to the Resistance, “which has therefore crippled the government.”

“The situation will not change seeing as the dispute centers on the distribution of power in Lebanon,” he predicted.

Addressing the Syrian crisis, the LF leader described the developments as “unacceptable”, adding that the conflict will not have any repercussions on Lebanon if the government properly tackles the situation.

He therefore called on the government to deploy the Lebanese army along the border with Syria.

Geagea condemned some of authorities’ treatment of Syrian refugees, noting that supporters of the Syrian regime are receiving preferential treatment by these forces, while opposition members are being persecuted.

“Lebanese authorities have no business in labeling the Syrians as supporters of the regime or others as opposed to it,” he stressed.

Furthermore, he noted that the Syrian people have become victim to strategic interests, as demonstrated in China and Russia’s veto of a U.N. Security Council draft resolution on Syria.

Thousands of Syrian refugees have fled to Lebanon amid a deadly crackdown on a popular revolt against President Bashar Assad’s regime, now in its eleventh month.

In November, the Syrian army laced the Lebanese border with landmines in a bid to curb arms smuggling and hamper army defectors and refugees from fleeing.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Monday urged the Lebanese state to “aid the Syrian refugees” instead of staging “airborne military parades in the northern border areas.”

The Lebanese army deployed on Saturday in the northern border area of Wadi Khaled after media outlets reported that members of the rebel Free Syrian Army were present in the region.