Geagea: Hezbollah gave up on a cabinet that has always supported it

Lebanese Forces Chief Samir Geagea said on Tuesday that a delegation from March14 will be presenting tomorrow a parliamentary petition that calls for extending the mandate of security apparatuses’ chiefs including the Internal Security Forces Director General Ashraf Riffi and the Lebanese Armed Forces Commander General Jean Kahwagi.            

In this context, Geagea called on Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to hold a general authority session in order to approve the draft law pertaining to the aforementioned issues.                      

Geagea added that it is not possible to violate the will of the parliamentary majority which is willing to extend General Riffi’s mandate and the mandate of other officials capable of maintaining Lebanon’s security situation during this critical stage.                   

Talking to the Central News Agency, Geagea ruled out that Speaker Berri would include the item pertaining to the Orthodox Gathering’s electoral law on the agenda of the parliamentary session seemingly since “the latter is taking into account the progressive consultations between political forces”.              

Geagea added that the recent contacts between Speaker Berri and Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri showed a rapprochement in points of view in various issues including the electoral law.                

On another note, Geagea expressed his fear of the continuous void on the political, governmental and security levels and said that this void “may lead the country into a stage suitable for foreign forces”.                               

The LF Chief said that Hezbollah’s practices for the past few years have shown that this party only cares for its "external plan" adding that the latter gave up on the cabinet that has always supported it and “accepted outgoing Prime Minister Mikati’s resignation to achieve its goals and lead the country into a deeper void”.    

Geagea stressed that March14 forces are proceeding in their consultations in order to determine a stance in regards to the cabinet’s resignation and added that his position pertaining to national dialogue is separate than that of March14's ongoing consultations.     

In this regard, Geagea said that national dialogue, for the past 7 years, proved its fruitlessness since “consensus was never reached in most of the controversial issues facing the country”.