Sudanese security forces use live ammunition to disperse protests in Kassala

Samir Geagea, leader of the Lebanese Armed Forces, said on Sunday that in the talks following the end of the war in the Gaza Strip and the war between Israel and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, “everything must be reviewed except Lebanon's borders and its unity.”

Speaking at a memorial service for the martyrs of the Lebanese Armed Forces, he accused Hezbollah and the resistance axis to which it belongs of dragging Lebanon “into an open, senseless war”.

The war had been forced upon the Lebanese people and it must stop, he demanded.

He also accused Iran-backed Hezbollah of “exploiting the Palestinian cause to strengthen its interests in Lebanon and the region.”

“The Lebanese people do not want war and the government has no say in the matter,” he added.

Geagea called on Hezbollah to “show courage and end the war. This requires a commitment to UN Security Council Resolution 1701, the deployment of the Lebanese army in the south and limiting the decision to go to war to the state alone.”

“However, if the party insists on continuing the war, it must bear the consequences before God, the nation, the people and history alone,” he said.

He also called on the Lebanese government to ask Hezbollah to end the war.

Referring to the presidential vacuum in Lebanon, Geagea criticized Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, saying: “He must act according to his constitutional role, not his political role as an ally of a party. [Hezbollah] who has ambitions that go beyond the presidency and Lebanon.”

He added that “the road to the presidential palace in Baabda does not pass through Haret Hreik,” an area in Beirut’s southern suburbs – a Hezbollah stronghold.

The path to the presidency does not lead through Ain al-Tineh – Berri's residence – and does not follow its conditions. Rather, the presidency must go through parliament and the ballot box, Geagea stressed.

He also reiterated the opposition's demand for a public parliamentary session to elect a president.

He demanded that the election of a president be a priority and said that there could be no compromise on this issue. Berri must call an open parliamentary session for the election in accordance with the constitution.