Senior Lebanese politician Samir Geagea has responded to Hizbullah's latest threats against Israel, saying the group has “no right” to cause conflict. “The Lebanese people have not granted [Hizbullah head Hassan] Nasrallah the right to declare war with Israel,” Geagea said, according to the Hizbullah news service Al-Manar . He said that only Lebanon's elected government has the right to determine the fate of the Lebanese people, and that no single party may make unilateral decisions on pressing national issues. Nasrallah threatened Israel last week at a memorial event for assassinated Hizbullah leaders. “I say to the Israeli leaders that if you bomb the Rafik Hariri Airport in Beirut, we will bomb Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport... We will bomb your buildings if you bomb ours, your power plants if you bomb ours... I announce this challenge and we accept this challenge,” he said. Geagea leads the Lebanese Forces party and militia and is a senior member of the pro-Lebanese-independence March 14 Alliance. He was sentenced to multiple life sentences for crimes committed during the Lebanese Civil War of 1975-1990, but was pardoned in 2005. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has reportedly warned that the United States will not stand in Israel’s way in the wake of Hizbullah’s stockpiling of advanced weapons.
