MOUNT LEBANON — Condemnations of the statements made by Naim Qassem, Secretary-General of the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia, which is designated a terrorist organization by many Western countries, were not limited to the Lebanese Forces party alone. In his remarks, Qassem renewed his rejection of withdrawing illegal weapons, called on the government to postpone the disarmament process, and accused it of acting as an agent for the United States and Israel.
Federal Lebanon also weighed in on Qassem’s latest speech, saying it “reaffirms what is already well known regarding the impossibility of freeing the mindset of Shiite fundamentalists from the logic of accusations of treason and from extremism that insists on imposing weapons on those who reject them.” In a statement, Federal Lebanon, , which advocates a self-governing region for Christians in Tur Levnon (Mount Lebanon), added that Qassem knows full well “that the Christian, Sunni, and Druze components despise his weapons, yet in his authoritarian mindset these components are submissive categories with no right to object; otherwise, demonizing them is religiously permissible.”
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Federal Lebanon then commented on a statement by Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, a Syriac Maronite, who said that the decision to withdraw weapons has been made but will be implemented under appropriate circumstances. Federal Lebanon said the truth is that “the current circumstances represent the best opportunity Lebanon has had in the past fifty years, given the weakness of Hezbollah and its regional patron, as well as the unprecedented Arab, regional, and international support for Lebanese legitimacy.” It questioned the reason for waiting and for “submitting to the myth of distinguishing between south of the Litani River and north of it.”
Federal Lebanon also expressed concern over “reports that have recently circulated about 32 building permits in the Baabda area obtained by real estate developers from outside the region.” It voiced hope that the Municipality of Baabda (an Aramaic word meaning “House of Worship”) would “follow the example of the Municipality of Hadath in dealing with the ongoing real estate assault on the Baabda coast, as it represents a non-innocent expression of expansionist behaviors targeting the Ain el-Remmaneh, Furn el-Chebbak, Hadath, Hazmieh, Baabda, Yarzeh, and el-Jouar.”
The statement affirmed that “in these areas, there are those seeking to replicate their expansionist experience in Laylaki and Haret Hreik at the expense of the original residents,” calling on concerned agencies to be alert to a “geographic/demographic expansion in Baabda that rises to the level of an imminent danger.”
Federal Lebanon also condemned the so-called “financial gap” law, describing it as nothing more than “an escape bridge for banks that mismanaged depositors’ entrusted funds, in addition to being a self-amnesty for the corrupt political class that spent those funds on its own projects at the expense of depositors’ suffering and the savings of a lifetime.” It considered the central system “failed in everything, and it failed in this matter as well.”
Federal Lebanon then addressed events in the Syrian coast, particularly Alawite protests calling for federalism, stating: “Pluralistic countries are not governed centrally, and the only path to their stability is not a policy of genocide, whether the targeted group is Sunni, Alawite, Druze, Christian, or Kurdish, but rather granting each group its right to self-rule within the existing political entity.” It stressed that “removing the monopoly of power from the center will end the internal conflict over it and, consequently, break the cycle of violence that has continued unabated in these countries.”