Kataeb Leader Samy Gemayel noted that Lebanon’s [government] has no say in in the current developments on its borders, saying that the country and its citizens are trapped and hostage to an armed militia [Hezbollah] which increased its power and control over the country for the past 10 years.

“Hezbollah is taking orders from Iran. Today, we are waiting for Iran’s strategy to know the fate of our country and waiting for Hezbollah’s interest in this conflict. This is a real tragedy. The Lebanese people feel totally helpless about the situation,” Gemayel said in an interview with CNBC.

“Iran’s interests come first of any other issue including Hamas and Gaza. Iran’s objective is to expand its power and influence in all the region and become a regional and international power,” he noted.

Gemayel highlighted that Israel and Hezbollah have no interest in the conflict spillover as Iran wants to preserve its power in the region and does not want to harm Hezbollah.

“Things are kept at bay on Israel-Lebanon borders. For now, there is no interest in the spill out but things could change at any moment. If Iran or Israel change their strategy, Lebanon could be dragged into this war. The Lebanese people are the ones who will pay the price very highly,” he explained.

“The international community must pressure Iran to prevent this from happening as Iran is the main player in the region; it is training Hamas, providing it with missiles and weapons, and it is controlling Hezbollah,” he added.

“Lebanon is experiencing the biggest economic crisis of the history of mankind. We are in a huge crisis and people are getting poorer day by day. An attack on Lebanon can destroy what is left of this country and it will be difficult for us to stand up again,” he emphasized.

“There are huge stakes here. We are very fearful of this situation, Hezbollah does not have Lebanon’s interests at heart but rather Iran’s,” Gemayel added.

The Kataeb Leader hoped that the Lebanese people and the international community would listen to the opposition front’s stance on the situation.

“We, as the opposition front, have already issued a joint statement in which we called upon international community to protect Lebanon and Hezbollah not to drag Lebanon into the war and respect the decision of the Lebanese State on war and peace,” he indicated.

“The Lebanese State is the one who decides the fate of Lebanon and not Hezbollah,” he asserted.

“The United States should have two objectives. First, find a settlement to the 75 years Palestinian- Israeli conflict based on the UN international resolutions that clearly stipulate the right of the Palestinians to have a state of their own and to be able to live alongside with Israel without this ongoing internal conflict. Secondly, find a way to stop Iran from funding its proxies in the region, destabilizing the region and creating chaos including Lebanon through Hezbollah,  Israel through Islamic Jihad or other groups, Iraq through Hached Chaabi and Syria through the allies of Iran that support the dictator Bachar al-Assad who killed his own people,” he pointed out.

“If we manage to solve these two issues, we will have a region that can prosper and be a real asset to the world economic growth. I think that the Middle East would be at peace after all these years of tragedy,” Gemayel concluded.