Tens of thousands turn out in defiance of Hizballah and its Syrian and Iranian sponsors. From Haaretz: “Lebanese Christian leader: War was disaster, Hezbollah must disarm”
BEIRUT – A Lebanese Christian leader said Sunday that Hezbollah’s war with Israel was a disaster for Lebanon and rapped the Shi’ite Muslim group for rejecting calls to lay down its arms.
“We don’t feel [there was a] victory because the majority of the Lebanese people doesn’t feel victory,” Samir Geagea, head of the Lebanese Forces militia-turned-political party, said at a rally attended by thousands of supporters north of Beirut.
“The majority of the Lebanese people feel that a major catastrophe has befallen them, throwing their present and future up in the air,” he said.
His speech was a response to Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah’s vow, made at a rally Friday in Beirut’s southern suburbs, not to disarm despite international pressure. Some 800,000 Hezbollah supporters cheered Nasrallah at the gathering.
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Geagea said a strong state could only emerge after Hezbollah surrenders its weapons.
“Betting on maintaining weapons through force is a wrong bet… No weapons will make us surrender to this de facto reality,” he said referring to Hezbollah keeping it arms.
Tens of thousands turn out
Tens of thousands of right-wing Christians turned out at the tumultuous rally north of Beirut, in a show of strength two days after a massive gathering by the rival Muslim Shiite Hezbollah.
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The guerrillas’ fight with Israel sent their support soaring among Shiites. But a large sector – particularly among Christians and Sunni Muslims – opposes Hezbollah and resents it for provoking the fighting by capturing two Israeli soldiers on July 12.