BEIRUT: Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said Thursday the failure of Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s government to pay Lebanon’s share of funding to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon would result in its collapse.
Geagea said the Cabinet’s failure to fund the U.N.-backed court would deepen divisions among Lebanese factions and lead to international sanctions on Lebanon as a result of its refusal to implement U.N. Security Council resolutions.
“Geagea warned the [parliamentary] majority not to play around with the issue of financing the international tribunal, because this will awaken dormant strife by overlooking and neglecting the majority of people who have demanded justice and truth,” Geagea’s press office said in a statement.
“This increases national division and will also be followed by international isolation and sanctions against Lebanon,” he added.
The LF leader said the failure to fund the court could lead to the downfall of the Cabinet without the intervention of March 14 Forces, hinting at the ongoing conflict between Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Hezbollah over the issue.
“There might be no need to do anything to bring the Cabinet down if it rejects funding the court, because it could crumble by itself,” Geagea said.
Meanwhile, the March 14 Secretariat General said it would consider the Cabinet “as resigned” at the moment it decides not to fund the STL.
While President Michel Sleiman and Mikati have stressed their commitment to funding the court, Hezbollah and its allies have opposed paying dues to what they dubbed a “U.S.-Israeli” tribunal.
Some recent reports said Mikati has threatened to resign if Hezbollah maintains its position, which would put the government in caretaker mode. But sources close to the prime minister have denied the reports, saying Mikati was still banking on dialogue to find a solution to the issue.
The matter did not come up in the Cabinet’s weekly session Wednesday.
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