Geagea: Sayyed Nasrallah Fighting "Others'" Electoral War

30/01/2009 | Al Manar

Less than 24 hours after the press conference held by Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah in which his eminence called the Lebanese government and the Lebanese Forces to reveal the fate of the four Iranian missing diplomats, Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea held a press conference, in which he sought to respond to Sayyed Nasrallah but failed to give firm answers to the questions raised.

"I don't know who kidnapped the four Iranian diplomats," Geagea said, adding that he wasn't part of the intelligence apparatus within the LF at the time. "Calling upon the LF to determine the fate of the four Iranian diplomats is rejected," he simply added, expressing at the same time "readiness" to help in any issue that security and judicial authorities inquire about. "Sayyed Nasrallah is trying to falsely link the file of Iranian diplomats to the LF party," Geagea claimed.

The four Iranian diplomats were abducted at a Lebanese Forces checkpoint north of Lebanon in the 1980's. Their fate was never known amid reports that Geagea had handed them to his Israeli allies during the war. Geagea is accused of handing Israel Lebanese and non-Lebanese prisoners he used to abduct on LF checkpoints.

During his press conference on Thursday, Sayyed Nasrallah called on the LF to assist the Lebanese government in disclosing the fate of the four diplomats. "The Israelis claimed, in their report, that the four Iranian diplomats were kidnapped and executed by the Lebanese Forces and buried," his eminence said, but noted that Hezbollah believes that the mentioned diplomats were still inside Israeli prisons. "They are only misleading us," Sayyed Nasrallah said. "Everyone knows that the four diplomats were kidnapped by the Lebanese Forces in 1982," Sayyed Nasrallah stressed.

Geagea, who "regretted" that Hezbollah Secretary General brought up the issue "now," sought to undermine it wondering about the "timing" of raising the topic. "Who could explain Sayyed Nasrallah's interest in Iranian diplomats who have disappeared 27 years ago?" the LF chief wondered, saying that there were 'many other important issues such as the demarcation of the Lebanese borders.' However, Geagea made sure to claim that he "admits" the humanitarian aspect of the case called on by Sayyed Nasrallah.

According to the Lebanese Forces chief, "Sayyed Nasrallah's speech is the beginning of an electoral war against the Lebanese Forces." He even went too far in his theory, saying that he "understands" accusing the LF of involvement ahead of the elections but stressed this was unacceptable. "I know that Hezbollah has strong popular support, but it was fighting the electoral battles of its allies," Geagea claimed, signaling MP Michel Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement. "I would have hoped that our foes would face us through political means and not accusations of being the enemy’s traitors," he added.