Geagea tells Hezbollah that Aoun and govt. are the representatives of the Lebanese people

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Tuesday responded to Hezbollah's repeated announcements that it is not concerned with any direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel and subsequently by their outcome.

Hitting back, Geagea said: "We are not concerned with your words or anything you do, except that it has brought disasters upon Lebanon and the Lebanese people. Lebanon has a democratically and effectively elected parliament that truly represents the Lebanese people."

"This parliament elected President Joseph Aoun with a majority of 99 votes out of 128, and it subsequently granted confidence to the current government twice consecutively with a majority exceeding two-thirds. Therefore, the President of the Republic and the government are the ones who represent the Lebanese people, each according to the powers granted to them by the Constitution," Geagea pointed out.

He added: "Those who say they are not concerned with legitimate and constitutional negotiations conducted by the President of the Republic in cooperation and solidarity with the Prime Minister and the government are, by saying this, disavowing Lebanon as a state, the majority of the Lebanese people, and consequently, Lebanon as a nation."

He concluded that whoever does not recognize what the "legitimate president" of Lebanon and the legitimate government are doing "does not recognize the existence of a state in Lebanon."

Geagea accordingly called on the officials in the state in Lebanon to "act on this basis."