Exchange of Publications Between “The Forces” and “The Marada” Escalates Political Discourse!

After the message addressed by Samir Geagea, head of the “Lebanese Forces” party, to President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, during the party’s first general conference under the title “Forces Towards the Future”, a political controversy erupted between the “Lebanese Forces” party and the “Marada” party. Geagea launched a direct attack on “Hezbollah” and Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri.

Geagea called for the immediate dissolution of the military wings of “Hezbollah”, stressing that the party’s military organization “is the core of the problem that Lebanon is experiencing”, considering that it “contradicts the Taif Agreement and the constitution”, and pointed out that its dissolution is necessary to address the financial and living collapse. He also rejected “resorting to a alleged civil war”, noting that the government had previously taken clear decisions regarding weapons on the fifth and seventh of August.

Geagea’s positions sparked immediate reactions via the “X” platform, where MP Tony Frangieh commented, considering that the Lebanese “are tired of bidding and accusatory speeches”, and believed that the current era is working to rebuild the state after it was weakened by the divisions in which Geagea was a major party. He pointed out that high-pitched rhetoric is no longer useful, calling for “actual work instead of accusations.”

Frangieh’s words provoked a response from Lebanese Forces MP Fadi Karam, who commented: “My colleague Tony Frangieh, what kind of bidding are you talking about? Is our demand that the state impose its authority a bidding? Do you want to keep Lebanon as fields, farms and organizations rejected by the international community? Enough betting on criminal regimes, from the Assad regime to the Revolutionary Guard.”

The media relations officer in the “Forces”, Charle Jabbour, also intervened, and wrote a post in which he said: “I sometimes understand the attack of some on the Forces, and this understanding stems from the need to take into account the situation of some people… such as MP Tony Frangieh, who remembers today the fall of his spiritual father, Bashar al-Assad, and feels the bitterness of separation.”

The lawyer of “Marada”, Suleiman Frangieh, responded to Jabbour with a post in which he said: “His only spiritual father is Suleiman Frangieh, who left hatred and resentment and practiced forgiveness and the teachings of Jesus Christ, when your spiritual father was practicing exclusion in all its forms.”

He published a second tweet addressed to the “Forces” stating: “Whoever presented Aoun’s era with all its promises as the beginning of the new Lebanon bears responsibility for that adventure and the destruction that followed. Your project today is not a state project, but a purely personal ambition. Taif is the constant and the guarantor… and we have a strong president who leads and does and will not falter.”

Engineer Fadi Ghosn joined the debate, and directed implicit criticism to the Lebanese Forces approach, saying via “X”: “Enough investment in the narrative of resistance with all its honorable or shameful history. The future is for openness, dialogue, forgiveness, moderation and meeting on the interest of Lebanon. As for the extremist ‘traditional’ sectarian parties that have been living on exclusion for more than 40 years, they are the ones with the greatest negative impact on Lebanon.”