Over the past few days, while the public and media focus was on the Israeli-Hezbollah war, the Christian-majority city of Maarab in the Jabal hosted a specific conference with highly dangerous aims for the Lebanese home situation.
The arrangement of this conference, under the title of 'comprehensive national meeting to save Lebanon', was carried out by the Lebanese Forces party led by Samir Geagea, a leading opponent of Hezbollah and a pro-Western pawn supported by the US, the Israeli regime, and some Arab countries. The meeting, which contrary to its slogan and title smelled sedition, division and crisis, ended like a stillborn baby, however.
Aims of the conference
This meeting was supposed to be held with the presence of all of the groups opposed to Hezbollah and Free Patriotic Movement led by Gebran Bassil. The arrangers of the meeting and especially Geagea, naively thinking that after martyrdom of Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah the ground is prepared for collapse of the government and assumption of leadership of Lebanon in the next cabinet, expressed such excuses as electing a new president, saving Lebanon from the war, and pushing towards implementation of the Security Council resolutions to stop the Israeli aggression as the excuses for this political move.
Actually, Geagea, on the strength of the foreign embassies and on top of them the US, tried to organize a show maneuver against a meeting held earlier in which Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, and Druze leader Walid Jumblatt unanimously voiced support for Hezbollah.
Since the beginning, it was clear to the political parties that behind the call for implementation of the 1559 and 1701 resolutions of the UNSC the main aim of this political show was to draw a roadmap to pressure Hezbollah and revive the Israeli-favored debate about disarmament of Hezbollah and change of the arms equation in Lebanon. This was enough for a majority of the parties to boycott this conspiratorial conference.
In the press conference after this meeting, Geagea revealed his main intentions, saying: "Israel seeks to achieve its goals, not the goals of any other party, and we believe that even if Hezbollah achieves all the victories in the world, a government cannot be held in Lebanon with the presence of an armed party."
These words, at a time Hezbollah is not defending a particular ethnic group or city but defending the territorial integrity of the entire Lebanon against the aggression of the Israeli regime and while the public opinion confirms this agenda and supports the legitimate defense of Hezbollah, can have no other purpose than stabbing in the back the forces of Lebanese defense and undermining Lebanon's military power amid war.
The smallest thing that can be said about Maarab 2 meeting is that this is the second failed try of the Geagea-led Lebanese Forces to lead the opposition. The meeting was held while the Shiites, the Sunnis, and Druze, and over half of the Christians were absent. Only one Muslim member of parliament out of 64 attended the meeting.
In fact, not only the majority of the parliamentary factions did not welcome this meeting, but also even the opposition parties boycotted it, an issue that can be considered as the reason for these parties' awareness of the public opinion's support for resistance against the Israeli aggression.
For example, Lebanese Democratic Movement, an opposition movement, condemned the Israeli attack on the UNIFIL forces last week and in a statement said that Maarab meeting did not meet the movement's aspirations and was an insignificant one attended only by the Lebanese Forces, its leader Geagea, and the party's members of parliament.
The Democratic Gathering parliamentary bloc said the reason for its boycotting of the meeting was the stances of Geagea that not only do not bring about a national salvation project, but also promote radicalism and isolation and fuel ethnic divisions.
Even prominent opposition figures such as Fouad Siniora did not attend this meeting, which bears witness to the imbalance existing within the opposition and which was also evident in the Maarab 1 conference, where all efforts to fill the gap between the opposition forces failed.
Phalanges, Israel's Trojan Horse in Lebanon
Certainly, at a time the Israeli war machine behind the gates of Lebanon has met the tough wall of Hezbollah and has not shown any initiative but aiestrikes in the war, engaging Hezbollah in an internal political struggle serves the interests of Israel.
The interesting things in Geagea and his allies' keywords in the meeting was the resolutions 1559 and 1701, the same excuse Israel is using to attack Lebanon these days.
The history of the Phalanges' collusion with Israel goes back to the occupation of Lebanon, when the Israeli army relied on proxy groups like Phalanges and the so-called militant group Southern Lebanon Army from 1982 to 2000, which mainly consisted of Maronites Christians, to control the south. Both these groups were tough opposition to the Palestinian groups and Hezbollah.
One of the horrific crimes arising from the Phalanges-Israel alliance was the massacare of thousands of Palestinian refugees in Sabra and Shatila refugee camps, which is labeled as a black day in the history of Lebanon.
Finally, the South Lebanon Army was dissolved in 2000 by then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. However, the Israeli leaders seems to have recruited Geagea and the Lebanese Forces as their Trojan Horse to penetrate the firm Hezbollah-guarded Lebanon.
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