A wide national meeting was held at the headquarters of the Lebanese Forces Party in Maarab this afternoon, under the headline “In Defense of Lebanon”, to present a rescue roadmap following the war into which Lebanon was plunged, reaching a catastrophic level, and in light of what the Lebanese are suffering and enduring in terms of death, displacement, destruction, and collapse.

Addressing the conferees including former opposition officials, political, media, social, and security figures, Lebanese Forces Party Chief Samir Geagea outlined a roadmap to stop the current collapse, its first step being ceasefire.

He said: “Our country is going through the most difficult days in modern history today. The Lebanese people, who have not yet escaped the repercussions of the political, economic, and social crises that have befallen them in the past years, have been thrust into the furnace of a new war for a year, the intensity of which has gradually increased and reached its peak about a month ago with the intensifica
tion of violence, destruction, and displacement…Today, it continues, causing a blow to the foundations of all Lebanese whose livelihoods have been damaged and whose daily and national lives and dreams have been disrupted once again, entering a new tunnel of suffering and pain…”

Geagea continued, “In light of what the Lebanese are enduring in terms of killing, displacement, and destruction, and taking into account the humanitarian circumstances in the previous period, a national stand is necessary today to stop the tragedies of the Lebanese and reverse the cumulative circumstances that led to them. The Lebanese people, with all their sects and spectrums, deserve to live a dignified and safe life without the obsession of wars and destruction befalling them.”

Geagea considered that amidst all the anxiety and fear that the Lebanese people are experiencing regarding their fate, in a stricken homeland and a non-existent state, it was necessary to have a ‘meeting, a position and an initiative’ through which a
roadmap can be defined, in continuation of previous positions of all opposition forces, to stop the bleeding and suffering at all levels. “The urgent need requires first and foremost and before anything else, reaching a ceasefire, which would put an initial end to the catastrophe that our people are experiencing,” he emphasized.

“In the absence of serious international initiatives, all that remains for us to reach a ceasefire is to elect a president for the republic: a president who implements the constitution and respects the laws in force, a credible president who pledges in advance in a clear and explicit manner to implement international resolutions, especially resolutions 1559, 1680 and 1701, in accordance with all their provisions, and the relevant provisions of the Taif Agreement; a president who pledges in a clear and explicit manner that the strategic decision will belong solely to the state; a president who pledges to give the Lebanese army all the necessary powers, leaving no weapons or security o
rganizations existing outside the state; a president known for his integrity, high morals and patriotism…”

He also underliined the need for the presidential elections to be immediately followed by binding parliamentary consultations to appoint a prime minister and form a government on the same sovereign foundations.

“All of this does not mean that one party will be victorious and another defeated. Rather, Lebanon will be the victor for the benefit of all its people, its security, stability, and prosperity,” Geagea asserted.

“We pledge to the Lebanese people that we will fight peaceful, democratic, and diplomatic political battles that will lead them to safety and that will prove their right to a capable, just, and sovereign state that is neutral from the policies of the axes and in harmony with its Arab and international surroundings, restoring Lebanon’s role as an illuminating homeland, not a homeland of open arenas; a homeland of pluralism as a source of wealth and prosperity, not a homeland of unilate
ralism that produces poverty, decline, wars, displacement and extinction,’ Geagea concluded.

Source: National News Agency – Lebanon