LebaneseForces.com: Fighting for Freedom

Geagea in Face-to-Face Conclave with Patriarch

Samir Geagea made a surprise visit to Bkirki Sunday night to hold his first face-to-face conclave with Patriarch Sfeir behind closed doors in 13 years, which may have a fatalist impact on Gen. Emile Lahoud as president of Lebanon.

"We have reached an understanding on the transition of Lebanon from the era we've gotten rid of to the new era which we haven't attained, yet," the commander of the Lebanese Forces Party said in an interview carried on An Nahar's front-page Monday.

"We were in accord on how to transit from the current provisional status to the hoped-for era of statehood," Geagea said as his tete-a-tete with the head of the Maronite Church was labeled by the local media as having taken the fate of President Lahoud onto the front burner.

Geagea also held his first telephone conversation since his July 26 release from 11 years in prison with Druze leader Walid Jumblat, his one-time deadliest civil war foe who turned into a political ally in the May-June free-from-Syria general elections that carried six LF politicians to the Lebanese parliament.

In an interview with Al Arabiya's Giselle Khoury after the telephone conversation, Jumblat renewed his call to Christian political leaders to hold a meeting with Cardinal Sfeir at Bkirki and "come up with a list of new presidential candidates from which we will choose or vote for one."

Jumblat said President Lahoud's unjustified obstinacy not to resign "is putting Lebanon in a rapid depreciation process."

Posted by 40-Tactical on Monday, October 31, 2005 | Permalink

Geagea's Lebanese Forces Turns into Political Party

Samir Geagea's Lebanese Forces has turned into a political party on the strength of a notification served on the interior ministry by LF legislator George Adwan on Friday, An Nahar reported on Saturday.

Adwan told reporters after a meeting with Interior Minister Hassan Sabaa that the founding board of the LF Party is made up of Samir Geagea as chairman, George Adwan as Vice Chairman, Tourism Minister Joe Sarkis as treasurer and Edie Abi Lamaa as liaison officer with the government.

The move came five days after Geagea's return to Lebanon from three months of recuperation in Europe following his release from 11 years in jail on July 26.

Posted by 40-Tactical on Saturday, October 29, 2005 | Permalink

Geagea Sees Parents, May Chidiac, Sitrida Advised to Avoid Movements

Samir Geagea had two emotionally-charged stops on the way from the airport to his cedars forest residence Monday night, first at his parent's house in Naccache and then at Hotel Dieu with May Chidiac at her sickbed.

"I have been expecting you for 11 long years, but not to see me in this condition," cried out May as Geagea walked into her hospital room. May lost her left arm and her left leg when a booby-trap exploded in her 4-wheeler Sept. 25.

It was the first time since his release from jail that Geagea saw his parents. His father was in hospital when the LF commander was set free from prison July 26 to fly straight out of Lebanon for recuperation.

The father had a broken hip that day and Geagea's mother was keeping to her husband's bedside. Geagea had to settle for calling them by telephone from Beirut's Rafik Hariri Airport before taking off for Paris.

Mrs. Sitrida Geagea was not on hand to greet her husband at the airport because her doctors had advised her to "avoid plenty of movements at this stage" of her physical condition.

She is believed to be in the Cedars forest chalet to celebrate her husband's 53rd birthday Tuesday.

Posted by 40-Tactical on Tuesday, October 25, 2005 | Permalink

Geagea: Lahoud's Position Very, Very, Very Difficult

The return of self-banished Lebanese leaders from Europe is intensifying the wind of change in the Baabda Palace with Samir Geagea saying the position of President Lahoud "is very, very, very difficult" and Saad Hariri saying Lahoud's departure has become imperative after the Detlev Mehlis report.

"President Lahoud's resignation does not constitute an offense to his religious community," Geagea said in an interview front-paged by the London-based Al Hayat newspaper on the eve of his home flight from Paris to Beirut amid an airtight security dragnet Monday night.

Both Lahoud and Geagea are Maronite Catholics, the sect to which all 11 post-independence presidents of Lebanon belonged. "His community had no role in carrying him to the presidency," Geagea said, obviously alluding to the fact that Lahoud's presidency was Syria's brainchild altogether in 1998.

Geagea issued instructions to the Lebanese Forces to abstain from any public festivities over his return home from three months of recuperation and rehabilitation in Europe since the end of his 11-year imprisonment in the Defense Ministry jail in Yarze July 26. He turns 53 on Tuesday.

An Nahar said Geagea's journey home was aboard a Middle East Airlines jetliner that touched down at Beirut's Rafik Hariri Airport from Paris at 6:55 p.m. Monday. He was accompanied by only one bodyguard with only LF legislator George Adwan waiting at the plane's exit ladder.

Other passengers aboard had agreed to give Geagea a 5-minute start in climbing out of the plane. Adwan drove him from the plane's ladder onto the airport tarmac, where the army whisked the LF commander with heavy escort to his new residence at a chalet in a Cedars forest overlooking his hometown of Besharri in northern Lebanon, according to An Nahar.

Defense Minister Elias Murr also returned aboard a private jet to Beirut Monday evening from prolonged treatment in Switzerland for injuries he suffered in an assassination attempt July 12. It could not be immediately determined whether he is fit to resume his official functions.

Patriarch Sfeir is scheduled to return to his seat in Bkirki from the Vatican on Tuesday. As head of the Maronite church, the patriarch is the central figure in deciding whether or not President Lahoud should be replaced. Bkirki is expected to turn into a political beehive upon his return.

Aides to Saad Hariri were quoted by the local media on Tuesday as saying final arrangements for his return from self-imposed exile are about to be completed and he will be back in Koreitem 'very soon.' Saad is due in London Tuesday for a meeting with Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.

"The winds of presidential change are whistling with the return of Geagea, Sfeir and Murr," said an 8-column headline across An Nahar's front-page.

Posted by 40-Tactical on Tuesday, October 25, 2005 | Permalink

Samir Geagea Returns to Lebanon on His Birthday Eve

Samir Geagea returned to Lebanon in an airtight security dragnet and is believed to have headed straight from Beirut Airport to a Chalet in North Lebanon Cedar Mountains where he would live henceforth.

The media was taken by surprise as the news of his secret arrival spread in town without any statement to the press or a picture of his arrival.

He returned home on the eve of his 53rd birthday.

Posted by 40-Tactical on Monday, October 24, 2005 | Permalink

Geagea Returns End of the Month

Samir Geagea says he will return to Lebanon toward the end of the month and may travel first to the Vatican to talk to Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir about his initiative for a conclave at Bkirki to select a new president for Lebanon.

The commander of the Lebanese Forces made the revelations in separate interviews published Sunday by An Nahar and the Beirut daily Al Balad. He spoke from Paris, where he is currently working out the final details of his trip back home.

Geagea told An Nahar his presidential initiative "is getting a favorable response from various leaderships," refusing to say who the LF would support to replace president Lahoud.

The end-of-the-month deadline for his return was made by Geagea in the Al Balad interview. His wife is already back in Lebanon, reportedly overseeing the final stage of rehabilitating a Chalet at the Cedar forest above Besharri, where her husband will live upon his return.

Saad Hariri, who has long been living abroad because of assassination threats he received in Beirut after taking up his father's political mantle, told CNN Saturday night that he also would be returning to the Koreitem mansion soon. But he did not mention a specific date.

Posted by 40-Tactical on Sunday, October 23, 2005 | Permalink

Explosion in Haret Sakhr

An explosion went off in the Haret Sakhr village of Lebanon's Christian heartland north of Beirut Sunday, damaging an entrance to an apartment building and wrecking two cars nearby. But no casualties were immediately reported from the blast, the first since the release of the U.N. report that accused Syria's secret service of assassinating Rafik Hariri.

Police and the Lebanese media were confused over the cause of the explosion that went off at mid-morning, fueling public fears that Syria was resuming a terror campaign of bombings and assassinations to avenge its ouster from Lebanon after three decades of absolute tutelage.

The first police report said the explosion resulted from a 'small bomb,' then said in an ensuing communiqué that it was caused by a gas leakage, and finally sad it was a bomb not a gas leakage. Beirut's seven TV networks expressed bewilderment over the police confusion which left the media in confusion, too.

Haret Sakhr is 25 kilometers north of Beirut. The LBCI said the explosion occurred in Gen. Boustany Street and the station's anchorwoman Dolly Ghanem said in a shaken voice that the blast took place only 20 meters away from her Haret Sakhr house.

Another LBCI anchorwoman, May Chidiac, lost her left arm and left leg when a booby-trap ripped through her car as she turned on the ignition near the coastal town of Jounieh north of Beirut Sept. 25. She is still in hospital.

Posted by 40-Tactical on Sunday, October 23, 2005 | Permalink

Detlev Mehlis Report

Click here to read it.

Posted by 40-Tactical on Friday, October 21, 2005 | Permalink

Lebanese-Forces.ca

Lebanese-Forces.ca (LebaneseForces.org) has a ton of articles and documents not available on this site. So check them out. [Link]

Posted by 40-Tactical on Thursday, October 20, 2005 | Permalink

Geagea: Lebanon needs strong president

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said from Paris yesterday that the next Lebanese president should have "a strong personality, a free will and be accepted by the people." Speaking during a meeting with LF officials in the French capital, Geagea denied having anyone particular in mind for the country's highest post, but stressed the need to choose a "strong president."

"I say to all the Lebanese that a weak president is not useful to anybody," he said. "Unlike what some may think, he would hinder the whole republic because a weak president means a weak republic whether we like it or not."

The LF leader added that a strong president would not yield to "any pressure" and would not be forced into making concessions to serve his own personal interests.

He explained that the president does in fact have a role to play in Lebanon, which was determined "by the man himself," in line with his constitutional prerogatives.

According to Geagea, the Lebanese are fed up with the "immorality" of the past few years, in reference to the widespread allegations of the squandering of public funds and outright theft by officials. "The president should have good morals and be objective," he added.

Geagea further said Lebanon could not be revived without strong constitutional institutions, including the presidency, explaining that a strong president did not mean a weak government and a weak Parliament. "It is not possible to have a strong government and a strong Parliament unless there is a president who is accepted by the people."

The president should only be chosen by the Lebanese people, he continued, far from any interference, whether internal or external.

Geagea said that the government's institutions should be built on the principles of "justice, truth and good morals," adding that the current phase was simple a transition.

He said the authorities' priority should be to restore balance in the country, far from the prevailing intentional marginalization of the past, in reference to the marginalization of the Christian community since the end of Lebanon's 1975-90 Civil War.

"The marginalization that lasted 15 years should be ended ... as soon as possible," he said. "Marginalization should not be maintained on a group of Lebanese for no reason."

He blasted previous governments for persecuting Christians to the utmost and preventing them from playing their fair political role, hoping the new government would quickly mend the flaws of the past.

Separately, the LF's parliamentary bloc stressed the importance of preserving national unity, which it described as "the safety valve" against chaos and confusion. It further called for open dialogue to maintain such unity.

The bloc's comments came in a statement issued yesterday after its weekly meeting, held at the house of MP Farid Habib and in the presence of MPs Strida Geagea, George Adwan, Elie Keyrouz, Edmond Naim, Habib and Tony Zahra and Tourism Minister Joe Sarkis.

MP Geagea had been in Europe with her husband since his release from an 11-year imprisonment three months ago. The LF had not announced her return to Lebanon.

In the statement, the bloc stated its regret over the bickering taking place in the media between various political parties in the country, and stressed the need for "poised democratic behavior in this decisive phase."

The bloc called for abolishing the word "war" from Lebanon's political dictionary, saying the present opportunity to rebuild the country and restore the people's confidence in the future should not be wasted.

The bloc also said Lebanon should refer to an international investigation commission the fate of missing Lebanese nationals believed to be held in Syrian prisons if the concerned committee fails to achieve positive result.

Posted by 40-Tactical on Tuesday, October 18, 2005 | Permalink

Geagea Sees Saniora, Portrays Next President, Hedges on When he Would Return

Premier Saniora held separate talks in Paris with Saad Hariri and then with Lebanese Forces commander Samir Geagea, who had earlier met with Hariri and discussed ways of transiting Lebanon from its current provisional stage into the era of a cohesive national unity in the wake of Syria's evacuation.

"We had a tour of general public issues. There was no specific subject that we discussed," Geagea told reporters after his meeting with Saniora at his hotel suite Monday night, An Nahar reported on Tuesday.

"When do you plan to return to Lebanon?" Geagea was asked. "I can't tell," he responded.

"There are reports that you will live in the Cedar mountains when you return. Why is this?" Geagea was asked. "This is an important region whether I live in it or not," he answered.

Asked for his views on Lebanon's current state of affairs, the LF commander said "we have to exit from the current situation to a better one. This is a transitional situation that we cannot afford to remain stranded in. All the consultations we are holding are aimed at emerging to a better situation."

Asked whether he believes the truth about Rafik Hariri's assassination would come out to the open when Detlev Mehlis turns in his report at the weekend, Geagea said "I have no accurate idea, but I believe that nothing could disappear in history."

In an earlier meeting with LF figures in Paris, Geagea said the next president of Lebanon should have a "strong personality, a free will and be accepted by the people." Geagea stressed that he has no one particularly in mind to become Lebanon's 12th post-independence president, asserting that whoever he would be should "simply not be appointed externally."

Posted by 40-Tactical on Tuesday, October 18, 2005 | Permalink

Ghazi Kanaan Commits Suicide

Syria's interior minister, who was head of the country's military intelligence in neighboring Lebanon for nearly 20 years, has committed suicide, according to Syria's official news agency.

Ghazi Kanaan's death was reported Wednesday, days before the expected release of a United Nations report into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

"The minister of interior died in his office this afternoon after committing suicide and the authorities are investigating the incident," Reuters quoted SANA the Syrian Arab News Agency as saying.

Hours before his death, he had been interviewed by a Lebanese radio station after he called to refute allegations that he accepted bribes and payoffs while in the Lebanon post.

He was among those interviewed as witnesses by a German prosecutor heading the U.N. investigation into Hariri's killing -- a prominent opponent of Syria's presence in Lebanon.

Hariri's death sparked a wave of protests in Beirut of what many viewed as a decades-long occupation, which helped lead to Syria's announced withdrawal from the country in April.

A report from the U.N. inquiry is expected to be released within the next 10 days.

Just before news of Kanaan's death, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told CNN's Christiane Amanpour in an exclusive interview that Syria had no involvement in Hariri's death, and it was impossible for him to have ordered it.

But, he said, if the U.N. probe concluded that Syrians were involved, then they would be regarded as traitors and should be charged with treason and face punishment, either through the Syrian judicial process or by an international court.

In July, the U.S. Department of the Treasury said it had frozen Kanaan's U.S. assets, alleging he was involved in Syria's military and security presence in Lebanon.

Posted by 40-Tactical on Wednesday, October 12, 2005 | Permalink

Geagea to Live in Cedar Mountain Forest

Samir Geagea has decided to return to Lebanon inside of the next four weeks and will live with his wife Sitrida in a chalet at the main forest of north Lebanon's Cedar mountains some 2,000 meters above sea level, Al Balad newspaper reported on Sunday.

The Beirut daily said Geagea's 'temporary headquarters' would be close to a Lebanese army garrison and is reachable through the St. Bernard Hotel crossroad.

"The chalet, which has long been unfinished, is now the center of intensive construction operation to prepare for Geagea's return," Al Balad said, contending the choice of the remote headquarters was for security and health reasons alike.

During his ongoing recuperation in Europe from 11 years in prison, Geagea has been advised by physicians to live in a mountainous location away from coastal humidity and from contamination, Al Balad said.

Posted by 40-Tactical on Sunday, October 09, 2005 | Permalink

Geagea: Syria is Trying to Re-Control Lebanon Even if it is Rubble

Samir Geagea has indirectly accused Syria of trying to re-control Lebanon even at the expense of leveling it to the ground and leaving a big portion of its population dead, the Beirut media reported on Sunday.

Geagea made his stinging attack on the Assad regime, without mentioning its name, in a telephone speech he made from Paris to a Lebanese Forces rally in Sydney, Australia, to celebrate his July 26 release from 11 years in Jail at the Lebanese Defense Ministry prison in Yarze.

Referring to Syria as "the adversary," Geagea charged it was responsible for the terror campaign that began with the attempted assassination of Marwan Hamadeh Oct. 1 last year to the attempted assassination of May Chidiac three weeks ago.

Geagea also accused Syria of plundering Lebanon's entire economic revenues in a way that plunged the nation in a staggering debt of unparalleled proportions.

"But all of this was regrettably not enough to satisfy them, and they are still insisting on controlling Lebanon," he said. "Against this reality, we have to declare our full and deep determination to defend ourselves and our country to the bitter end, through the legal and constitutional frames available."

Posted by 40-Tactical on Sunday, October 09, 2005 | Permalink

Samir Geagea Meets LF France

Recently Samir Geagea met with Lebanese Forces memebers in France. Click here to download a video from the meeting.
[WMV 10.2MB From Lebanese-Forces.org]

Posted by 40-Tactical on Sunday, October 09, 2005 | Permalink

Bomb Explosion

Prominent LBCI newswoman May Chidiac suffered critical wounds in an assassination attempt in the coastal city of Jounieh north of Beirut Sunday. The LBCI said a bomb ripped through her car and she was rushed to a nearby hospital where she is underwent surgical operations. Click here for pictures.

Posted by 40-Tactical on Sunday, October 09, 2005 | Permalink