Geagea Deems Syrian Arrest Warrants as ‘Laughable’, Rejects ‘Military Councils’

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea criticized on Tuesday the Syrian regime’s plans to issue arrest warrants against various Lebanese figures, deeming such a step as “laughable.”

He said before an emigrant delegation at his Maarab residence: “The regime is not aware that it is no longer a state. We don’t consider it to be a state.”

“The majority of the Syrian people and the majority of the Arab and international communities no longer consider the regime to be part of a state,” he continued.

“One needs a state in order to issue arrest warrants,” he explained.

The Syrian judiciary issued arrest warrants for Lebanese figures "on charges of backing and financing armed groups," Sky News Arabia reported on Monday.

Earlier in the day, Damascus' First Attorney-General Mohammed Marwan al-Loji that “the Syrian judicial authorities are preparing arrest warrants for several Lebanese political figures, including lawmakers, on charges of providing all sorts of support to the armed terrorist groups in Syria, such as the trafficking of weapons and gunmen.”

Loji declined to mention any names but al-Manar television quoted Syrian sources as saying that several Mustaqbal officials and MPs were involved, including ex-PM Saad Hariri and MPs Khaled al-Daher and Oqab Saqr.

The sources also said arrest warrants might be issued for Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat and Geagea.

Addressing the series of kidnappings against Syrian and Turkish nationals in Lebanon, Geagea welcome President Michel Suleiman’s demand that the security and judicial authorities release the captives and apprehend the abductors.

“This is one of the few times that a Lebanese official acts according to his national responsibilities,” remarked the LF chief.

“The president is attempting to save the state, while others in government are unfortunately working on destroying the country, whether deliberately or not,” he said.

“The series of kidnappings only serve the Syrian regime in its battle against the Syrian people,” he added.

He reiterated Suleiman’s call for issuing arrest warrants against the captors, stating that all captives must be released regardless of their political affiliations.

Moreover, Geagea said: “The LF and March 14 forces have their own military councils and they are the state’s military and security institutions.”

“These institutions are responsible for us and we will support them until the very,” he declared.

Eleven Lebanese pilgrims were kidnapped in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo on their way home from a pilgrimage to Iran on May 22. Conflicting reports have emerged on their fate after Syrian government forces shelled the area of Aazaz where they were being held.

Lebanese Hassan Salim al-Meqdad was allegedly kidnapped by the Free Syrian Army last week in Damascus which prompted his family’s previously unknown military wing to abduct several Syrians and a Turkish citizen to press the release of Hassan.

Another Turkish national has also been kidnapped but it was not clear who was behind his abduction.