Lebanese Christian leader says Hezbollah to blame for deaths of 24 killed while trying to return south

The leader of a main Christian political party in Lebanon blasts Hezbollah and the Lebanese government for the killing by IDF fire of 24 people in southern Lebanon yesterday, after the Shiite terrorist group urged displaced residents to return to their homes in defiance of IDF warnings.

In an interview with the Lebanese paper Nidaa al-Watan, Samir Geagea, leader of the anti-Hezbollah Lebanese Forces Party, says that “the current government proves it does not exist, and the Axis of Resistance [Iran and its proxies] proves that it does not value people’s lives. It does not hesitate to fabricate new events on a daily basis that it uses to cover up the tragedies and loss of life and property it has caused.”

Hundreds of Lebanese attempted to reach southern villages near the border with Israel by force on Sunday morning, defying warnings by the Israel Defense Forces to stay away, as the ceasefire’s original 60-day deadline for Israel to withdraw its forces passed with troops remaining in parts of the country’s south. According to the latest update by the Lebanese health ministry, 24 were killed and 135 were injured.

An Israeli military official told reporters that hundreds of Lebanese, among them Hezbollah operatives and supporters carrying Hezbollah flags and images of its slain chief Hassan Nasrallah, tried to reach villages in southern Lebanon while carrying out “provocations.” The official said the military had prepared for civilians attempting to reach the border villages at the end of the 60-day truce, despite its warnings.

In the interview, Geagea maintains that the Lebanese government should “inform residents about the sites from which the Israeli army will withdraw and those from which it will not, rather than allowing some parties to exploit the scenes [of returning residents] for self-interest, causing the death of [24] citizens.”

The government should have instructed “the Lebanese army to organize the entry of citizens into safe villages, and prevent them from reaching areas that the Israeli army still occupies, because protecting people’s lives is the responsibility of the Lebanese government, not Israel’s,” the party leader adds.

“[Hezbollah] exploited this vacuum and pushed citizens into imminent danger, not caring who would be killed or injured. It knows that throwing over 20 citizens into certain death is pointless and will not yield any results, and will not make Israel change its position,” he says.