Geagea: Syria tried to incite a civil war in Lebanon but failed

by **Admin** Thu Mar 27, 2008 3:01 am

The head of the "Lebanese Forces" Dr. Samir Geagea said during a meeting in Los Angeles that the Syrian regime has been trying very hard to force a civil war in Lebanon , but failed in its efforts.

Geagea attributed Syria's failure to the refusal by Hezbollah to engage in such a conflict stressing that Hezbollah is opposed to civil wars because this does not fall within its long term strategy.

Geagea said Syria succeeded with Aoun supporters who were armed and trained but many of those that were armed were arrested by the Lebanese security and this issue was put to rest.

He said former Minister Suleiman Franjieh in the North, Syrian Social Nationalist Party, Wiam Wahab in Mount Lebanon and Abdel Rahim Murad in the Bekaa would have liked to start a civil war but they are too week stressing that only "Hezbollah" in the opposition has the infrastructure, the means and capacity to carry out a civil war. But again he stressed that a civil war is not in Hezbollah's strategy because it will do it more harm than good.

"The Syrian regime is trying to hurl Lebanon into civil war, but did not succeed due to weakness of its allies," Geagea added.

He said the International Tribunal "would not only expose those who killed ex-Premier Rafik Hariri (in 2005) but would also disclose who killed Maarouf Saad (in 1975) and who committed all the other crimes."

Geagea reiterated his objection to participation in the Damascus summit. He said "Lebanon has attended every Arab summit , but this time we have a big problem with the location of the summit . It is not out of hostility towards the Syrian people ... absolutely not . Our big problem is with the manner in which the Syrian regime has been dealing with Lebanon. This is the regime that rejects the demarcation of the border with our country, which means it does not recognize our existence.

This is the regime that refuses to recognize Lebanon as a sovereign and Independent state. This is the regime that is preventing Lebanon from reclaiming the occupied Shebaa Farms, by refusing to cooperate with the UN .

This is the regime that refuses to establish any diplomatic relations with Lebanon and continues to use all its resources to destabilize our country , like it did when it sent Fatah al-Islam to fight our army last year.