Maronite Patriarch angers Lebanese Forces leader

Lebanese Forces (LF) leader Samir Geagea slammed on Monday Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi’s stances on the Syrian crisis, saying his remarks “put all the Christians in the region in danger”. “I can’t hide the fact that his statements had infuriated me, as they support the regime and contradict with our entire history and I cannot be proud of this rhetoric,” Geagea said in an interview on the Lebanese television station MTV. “Doesn’t Patriarch al-Rahi know that the majority of Christians are against the Syrian regime? What regime is more hardline than the Syrian regime? What regime has committed only 1 per cent of the Syrian regime’s acts against us? It is illogical to support a killer regime?” Geagea added. He stressed that 90 per cent of the region’s population cannot be “mistaken,” wondering how Lebanon should be described “if Syria is the closest country to a democratic system”. The LF leader called on the patriarch to “quickly act in order to clarify Bkirki’s stance.” “It is distressing that Bkirki’s position has changed,” he lamented. Geagea also wondered whether it was justifiable for the patriarch to share the same views of those who support the Assad’s regime. “Is it reasonable for the patriarch of the Maronites to be like Arab Tawhid Party leader Wiam Wahhab, Lebanon’s Baath Party leader Fayez Shukur, Russia and China? How can we justify this position?” he wondered. Geagea went on to say: “My basic stance on the Syrian revolution is that I am against a dictatorial regime and I’m on the side of people demanding freedom. I’m sad for the patriarch, his position, his image and the image of the church. What will we tell the future generations? Should we tell them that the patriarch backed the regime?” Asked whether the Cedar Revolution set an example for the Arab Spring, Geagea said: “Syrians saw how the Lebanese people defeated the Syrian army, so they seized the chance to stage their revolution with the coming of the Arab Spring.” Geagea stressed that “the Syrian revolution has not reached a dead end at all”. “The Syrian forces’ storming of Baba Amr represented an extra negative point against the regime,” he added. “Demonstrations in Homs did not stop after the storming of Baba Amr and in my opinion the Syrian revolution cannot go backwards,” he added. Asked about the entry of Syrian gunmen to Lebanon, Geagea said: “We do not accept at all the entry of gunmen from Syria and should a gunman enter Lebanon he must hand over his weapon and we must treat him as a political refugee”. “We must aid refugees according to the international standards, but it is wrong to describe them as infiltrators with all that is happening in Syria,” he said.