Iran and its proxy, Hezbollah, have taken Lebanon hostage, using the country for political and military gain, charged Samy Gemayel, a Lebanese parliament member.
“If Iran wants to escalate the situation in the region it will escalate in our country using Hezbollah’s weapons, using Hezbollah’s power in the region,” said Gemayel, speaking in an interview with WND’s Aaron Klein, who hosts an investigative radio show on New York’s WABC Radio.
“Hezbollah today is a main axis for Iran and actually Hezbollah is taking Lebanon hostage in this situation. Iran is taking Lebanon into hostage using Hezbollah to play a card on an international level with the U.S. and others,” said Gemayel.
Gemayel told Klein that Hezbollah is “trying to put its hands on the Lebanese institutions; on the Lebanese parliament.”
“Hezbollah is imposing its views on the Lebanese government by force. Hezbollah is using force sometimes to impose some of its decisions on the Lebanese people,” he said.
Continued Gemayel: “Hezbollah is using its weapons to be able to let all the parties adopt own views on things. And on the international level, on the external level, Hezbollah is still armed and can lead Lebanon into war with Israel at any time.”
Gemayel said he fears a future “destructive” war with Israel “can bring Lebanon twenty years back … this cannot continue.”
Gemayel comes from an historic Lebanese political family. He is a senior member of Lebanon’s Christian Phalange party, which is led by his father, Amine Gemayel, the country’s former president. The party was founded by Samy Gemayel’s grandfather, Pierre. Samy’s uncle, Bashir, was a president-elect of Lebanon, but he was assassinated before he took office. Samy’s brother, Pierre Amine, was a Lebanese parliamentarian who was assassinated four years ago.
Gemayel spoke days after an attack on Israeli troops positions carried out by elements in Lebanon. The attack resulted in the deaths of three Lebanese soldiers, one Lebanese reporter and an Israeli soldier.
Speaking of the border clashes, Gemayel warned, “Hezbollah is not very happy that the borders are quiet and nothing is going on there. So Hezbollah will try to provoke directly and indirectly these kinds of problems in the south.”
