BEIRUT: Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea would withdraw his candidacy for presidency if MP Michel Aoun does the same, the party’s deputy chief MP George Adwan said Sunday.
“Dr. Samir Geagea is completely ready to withdraw in the case we reach a deal for a compromise candidate other than him or Gen. Michel Aoun,” Adwan said in an interview with Al-Jaeed TV.
He called on Aoun to say he would be willing to endorse a compromise candidate.
Although renewing his party’s position against the extension of the Parliament’s mandate, Adwan admitted that “realistically speaking, we are heading toward an extension.”
The MP also touched on the issue of the captive soldiers and policemen, saying that the Lebanese Forces understands the anger of all the their families who have been staging protests and blocking roads across the country.
“We stand behind the government even though we are not part of it,” Adwan said, “and we leave the issue of negotiations to the government and back any decision it will make.”
The Lebanese Forces has no ministers in the government.
At least 21 soldiers and policemen are being held hostage by ISIS and the Nusra Front in Arsal’s outskirts, after seven had been released and three executed.
Adwan called on the people to believe in the military’s ability to protect all citizens, saying the Army is the only option to fight the extremist threat.
"Fighting ISIS can only be done through the Lebanese state and not through armed groups," he said in response to talk about Christians and other minorities taking up arms.
Displaing fear of ISIS weakens Lebanon’s position to fight it, Adwan added, calling on the Lebanese to refuse all private armaments because “they might create internal conflicts between the members of one society.”
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