Now Lebanon - Gemayel: What happened at the airport does not benefit Hezbollah - September 21, 2010

Kataeb Party leader Amin Gemayel told Future News on Tuesday that Hezbollah’s armed presence at Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport on Saturday does not benefit the party or the Shia sect.

A Hezbollah delegation received former General Security chief Jamil as-Sayyed at the airport upon his arrival from France.

Attorney General Judge Said Mirza requested to summon Sayyed last week, after the latter said that “[Prime Minister Saad Hariri] should take a lie detector test to prove he did not support or fund false witnesses in the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL).” Sayyed vowed to take his right “with his own hands.”

Hezbollah however said that Mirza’s request was “political par excellence,” calling for a reversal of the judiciary's decision to summon Sayyed for questioning.

“What happened in the airport is a repetition of a situation [that occurred] in 1975,” Gemayel said, in a reference to the Lebanese civil war outbreak.

He also said that the STL is necessary to protect Lebanon.

“Our struggle is building a strong and capable state, this is where we meet with Prime Minister Saad Hariri,” Gemayel added.