Today, Wednesday, the head of the "Lebanese Forces" party, Samir Geagea, failed to appear before the Army Intelligence to hear his testimony in the Tayouneh events known as Bloody Thursday.

The director of Al Jazeera's office in Beirut, Mazen Ibrahim, stated that Geagea did not appear at the Army Intelligence headquarters this morning, on the date set by the government commissioner at the Military Court, Judge Fadi Akiki, who requested his appearance to testify.

He also indicated that Geagea's absence was expected, especially that he announced his initial rejection of this summons, as well as the fact that he considered it a political targeting and that the judge did not have the legal right to ask him to appear before the army intelligence.

A procession supporting Geagea in Beirut in conjunction with a date set by the judge to appear before Army Intelligence (Reuters)

In a related context, the defense attorneys for the head of the "Lebanese Forces" submitted a memorandum to the judiciary, which they said confirms the illegality of Judge Akiki's request to hear Geagea's testimony today before the Army Intelligence in the case of the Tayouneh events.

In the Tayouneh case, prosecutors also asked the Court of Appeal to disqualify Akiki from the file for not being impartial, they said, while a number of residents of the Ain al-Rummaneh area filed a lawsuit against Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah on charges related to the Tayouneh events, which led to the death of 7 People during clashes on 14 October.

support march

In turn, supporters of the "Lebanese Forces" party participated today in a car rally in the Keserwan area in Mount Lebanon in support of the party's leader, coinciding with the scheduled date of his appearance before the army intelligence to hear his testimony in the Tayouneh events.

The march toured the roads leading to the headquarters of the Maronite Patriarchate in Bkerke and to Geagea's house, where party supporters carried out a solidarity stand during which they expressed their rejection of what they described as the politicization of the investigation into the Tayouneh incidents file.

Supporters of the "Lebanese Forces" party roamed the streets of Mount Lebanon to express their support for Geagea (Reuters)

For his part, Maronite Patriarch Mar Bechara Boutros Al-Rahi said that calling Geagea to investigate the Tayouneh incident file is reprehensible.

After his meeting with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, Al-Ra'i added that in the event that supporters of a particular party participate in a certain action, this does not require summoning the party leader to the investigation, as he put it.

Last Thursday, the military court summoned Geagea to hear his statements following the confessions of those arrested in the case.

Geagea commented on the summons on Twitter, "I, as the head of a legitimate Lebanese party, are under the law, but for justice to be upheld, the judiciary must deal with all parties in the country on the basis that they are under the law," referring to Hassan Nasrallah.

In turn, Nasrallah attacked Geagea's party, accusing it of seeking to drag the country toward civil war, waving in a speech a few days ago that was not without threats and a threat of force that his party has 100,000 trained and equipped fighters in Lebanon.

On Thursday, October 14, armed clashes erupted between members of the "Lebanese Forces" party and others from Hezbollah and the Amal movement in Tayouneh Street, located between the Shiah (majority Shiites) and Ain Al-Rummaneh (majority Christian) areas in Beirut, killing one 7 people and 32 injured.

This area is considered one of the previous lines of contact during the civil war that Lebanon witnessed, and it lasted for 15 years between 1975 and 1990, and resulted in 150,000 dead and 300,000 wounded.