LEBANON: Lebanese Christian leader and head of Lebanese Forces raps Hizbollah

A Lebanese Christian leader said on Sunday (September 24) Hizbollah's war with Israel was a disaster for Lebanon and rapped the Shi'ite Muslim group for rejecting calls to lay down its arms. Deep rifts along sectarian and political lines have re-emerged in Lebanon after the devastating 34-day war ended on August 14. Hizbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said at a large rally in Beirut on Friday (September 22) that the war was a "divine victory" for Lebanon. He rejected international demands that his guerrillas disarm and called for changing the Lebanese government, which is currently made up of mainly anti-Syrian, U.S.-backed parties. In a rally attended by thousands of supporters north of Beirut, Samir Geagea, head of the Lebanese Forces militia-turned-political party said majority of Lebanese did not feel victorious but rather "a major catastrophe has befallen them, throwing their present and future up in the air." Israel and Hizbollah have both declared themselves victors in the war which killed nearly 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and 157 Israelis, mainly soldiers. Christians make up around 35 percent of Lebanon's population of 4 million people, Shi'ite Muslims 35 percent and Sunni Muslims 25 percent. Geagea is a Maronite Christian and a member of a mainly Sunni Muslim, Druze and Christian political coalition which hold a majority in parliament and the cabinet. He said a strong state could only emerge after Hizbollah surrenders its weapons. "We are saying betting on maintaining weapons through force is a wrong bet...they (Hizbollah) said we don't threaten any one by our weapons but this the resistance weapons, and we are saying that we are not threatening any one by weapons but betting on the people's desire for freedom and stability and development. We are betting on the logic of history," Geagea said. He reiterated his stand that power will rest not on weapons but on the unity among all Lebanese. "They are saying the resistance today has more than 20 thousands rockets and it's now stronger than it was on March 12, and we are saying the power is not by rockets but by unity between all Lebanese groups," Geagea said. Thousands of U.N. peacekeepers and Lebanese army troops are deploying in south Lebanon, gradually replacing Israeli troops who had seized parts of the border area. The last Israeli soldier is expected to leave Lebanon by the end of the month. Geagea led the Lebanese Forces, the main Christian militia at the time, during the later years of Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war. His anti-Syrian group surrendered its weapons at the end of the war but Geagea was jailed in 1994 for crimes during it. He was released last year, a few weeks after Syria ended its 29-year military presence in Lebanon in the wake of the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.

ITN Source | September 24, 2006

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