MAARAB, Lebanon (AP) — The leader of one of Lebanon’s main Christian political parties criticized the Shiite militant group Hezbollah for opening a front with Israel to support its ally Hamas, saying it harmed Lebanon without undermining Israel’s overwhelming offensive in the Gaza Strip.
In an interview with the Associated Press on Tuesday night, Samir Geagea of the Lebanese Forces Party said Hezbollah should withdraw from areas along the border with Israel and that the Lebanese army should position itself at all points where militants from the Iran-backed group have taken positions.
Your comments came as Western diplomats try to mediate a de-escalation in the border conflict amid fears of a wider war.
Hezbollah began firing rockets at Israeli military posts on October 8, a day after Hamas-led militants invaded southern Israel in a surprise attack that triggered the crushing war in Gaza.
O almost daily violence has been mostly confined to the area along the border and international mediators have struggled to avoid an all-out war. The fighting killed 12 soldiers and 10 civilians in Israel. More than 350 people were killed in Lebanon, including 273 Hezbollah fighters and more than 50 civilians.
“No one has the right to control the destiny of a country and a people alone,” Geagea said at his heavily guarded headquarters in the mountain village of Maarab. “Hezbollah is not the government of Lebanon. There is a government in Lebanon in which Hezbollah is represented.” In addition to its military arm, Hezbollah is a political party.
Geagea, whose party has the largest bloc in Lebanon’s 128-member parliament, has tried to position himself as the leader of the opposition against Hezbollah.
Hezbollah officials said that by opening its front along Israel’s northern border, the militant group has reduced pressure on Gaza, keeping several Israeli army divisions on alert in the north rather than participating in the months-long offensive on the enclave.
“All the damage that could have happened in Gaza… happened. What was the benefit of military operations launched from southern Lebanon? Nothing,” said Geagea, pointing to the death toll and massive destruction in Lebanon’s border villages.
Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, caused widespread destruction and displaced hundreds of thousands of people to the city of Rafah, along the border with Egypt. from Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised on Tuesday to launch an offensive on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, despite international calls for restraint.
Geagea said Hezbollah intends, through the ongoing fighting, to benefit its main backer, Iran, by giving it a presence along Israel’s border and called on the group to withdraw from the border areas and to deploy the Lebanese army according to a UN Security Council resolution that ended the 34-day Israel-Hezbollah war in 2006.
Geagea also discussed his party’s campaign to repatriate Syrian refugees who fled the war to Lebanon.
These calls intensified after a Syrian gang was blamed for the murder of a Lebanese Forces officer last month. Pascal Suleimanallegedly in a carjacking gone wrong, although many initially suspected political motives.
Lebanon, with a total population of around 6 million, hosts what the UN refugee agency says are around 785,000 UN-registered Syrian refugees, 90% of whom depend on aid to survive. Lebanese authorities estimate there could be 1.5 million or 2 million, of whom only about 300,000 have legal residence.
Human rights groups say Syria is not safe for mass returns and that many Syrians who have returned – voluntarily or not – have been detained and tortured.
Geagea, whose party vehemently opposes President Bashar Assad’s government in Syria, insisted that only a small percentage of Syrians in Lebanon are true political refugees and that those who are could go to opposition-controlled areas of Syria.
The Lebanese politician suggested that his country should follow in the footsteps of Western countries like Britain, which approved controversial legislation last week to deport some asylum seekers to Rwanda.
“In Lebanon, we should tell them, guys, go back to your country. Syria exists,” said Geagea, who led the largest Christian militia during Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war.
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