Geagea Says Crisis in Lebanon is Getting 'Worse'

Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea said in an interview to al-Ahram Egyptian newspaper on Wednesday that “the crisis in Lebanon is getting worse without any glimmer of hope.”

“Lebanon is going towards the unknown. The crisis is getting worse and more and economic and living matters are heading towards more deterioration and without a glimmer of hope until the moment,” Geagea told al-Ahram daily.

On Saturday’s protests, Geagea said they did not serve the main goal of its organizers because it was infiltrated by “March 8 alliance groups seeking to implement foreign agendas and unfortunately raising political and sectarian slogans. They spread corruption in Beirut,” he said.

Geagea said “Hizbullah and allies must control their supporters and never let them resort to verbal or physical violence.”

On Hizbullah’s arms, the LF leader noted that he had been a long-time advocate of disarming Hizbullah and restricting the possession of weapons to the Lebanese Armed Forces. “It is one of the main reasons leading to the poor economic and living conditions we are going through nowadays,” he said.

On the calls urging to topple President Michel Aoun amid the crippling economic crisis and a failure to address Lebanon’s challenges, Geagea said if he “had been in that position, I would resign.”

He added: “There is no doubt the circumstances are difficult in the region and in the world as a whole, but this does not justify the deterioration in Lebanon. The problem is that the political forces, specifically Hizbulah on one hand, and the group of Minister (Jebran) Bassil on the other, control the decisions. These political forces are not eligible for that in any way.”

On the future of the government of PM Hassan Diab, Geagea said: “Unfortunately, I don’t see it prosperous. We all had hopes that it would succeed and bring in some change. But in the last three months it became clear that the parties in power are the ones holding the government’s decisions. Things got worse," over the last three months.