BEIRUT: The head of a major Christian party in politically deadlocked Lebanon said Saturday that electing a new president was key to obtaining a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
Lebanon has been without a head of state for almost two years amid a crushing economic crisis and, now, as Israel heavily bombards the country saying it is targeting Hezbollah sites.
Hezbollah allies and their adversaries including the Christian Lebanese Forces (LF) party have been deadlocked over the presidency, unable to reach a consensus.
“The urgency first and foremost is a ceasefire to end the catastrophe that our people are enduring,” said Samir Geagea, who heads the LF and parliament’s largest Christian bloc.
“In the absence of serious international initiatives, our only option to reach a ceasefire is by electing a president,” Geagea, who is close to the United States and Saudi Arabia, said in a press conference.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah unilaterally opened what it says is a “support front” for Gaza from Lebanon, launching cross-border attacks into Israel the day after Palestinian ally Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel sparked war in the Gaza Strip.
Early last month Geagea accused Hezbollah of dragging Lebanon into a war with Israel, “as if there were no state.”
Almost a year of cross-border exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah escalated into all-out war on September 23, with Israel heavily bombarding south and east Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs, saying it is targeting Hezbollah sites.
Geagea called for “a credible president who commits clearly to implementing international resolutions, in particular resolutions 1559, 1680 and 1701, in all their provisions.”
Security Council Resolutions 1559 and 1680 called for the disarmament of all non-state groups.
Adopted in 2006, Resolution 1701 led to a ceasefire in an Israel-Hezbollah war that year and said the Lebanese army and peacekeepers should be the only armed forces deployed in the country’s south.
Hezbollah is the lone group that refused to give up its weapons after Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war, doing so in the name of “resistance” against Israel.
The group was founded after Israel besieged the capital Beirut in 1982, and has since become a powerful domestic political player, though detractors have accused it of being a “state within a state.”
Geagea said a president would have to ensure that “strategic decisions belong solely to the state.”
Lebanon Christian leader says ending political deadlock key to war truce
https://arab.news/gjkx2
Lebanon Christian leader says ending political deadlock key to war truce
- “The urgency first and foremost is a ceasefire to end the catastrophe that our people are enduring,” said Samir Geagea
- “In the absence of serious international initiatives, our only option to reach a ceasefire is by electing a president”
Syrian authorities arrest member of elite army unit linked to Assad’s brother
- 4th Armoured Division has been accused of human rights violations and drug smuggling during Syria’s civil war
LONDON: Syrian authorities arrested Nidal Ali Suleiman, a former member of an elite military unit during the regime of Bashar Assad, the Interior Ministry announced on Sunday.
Internal security forces in the Al-Ghab area, in coordination with the Anti-Terror Branch in Hama, arrested Suleiman, who is suspected of involvement in fighting in the Hama region. He is also accused of smuggling weapons to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and taking part in drug trafficking activities.
The 4th Armoured Division was an elite formation of the Syrian Arab Army established in the 1980s. From 2018 until the collapse of the Assad regime, the unit was commanded by Maher Assad, brother of the former president. The division has been accused of committing human rights violations, and was involved in drug manufacturing and smuggling during the civil war from 2011 to 2024.
Maher Assad is believed to have fled to Russia following the collapse of the regime.
Since December 2024, the new government in Damascus has arrested several Assad-era army officers for alleged crimes committed against Syrians during the conflict.
Last week, authorities in Hama detained three people accused of involvement in an armed group linked to remnants of the Assad regime.
Authorities said they remain committed to protecting citizens, maintaining civil peace, and enforcing the law against anyone who jeopardizes the security and stability of the country, the Syrian Arab News Agency reported.
