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Geagea urges Hezbollah to disarm

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Jan. 19 (UPI) -- Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea predicted the Syrian regime will fail and urged Hezbollah to disarm.

"The situation in Syria is getting more complicated. The regime of President Bashar Assad will inevitably fall because it has become weak and lacks internal, Arab and international legitimacy," Geagea told As-Safir, an Arabic-language daily newspaper in Lebanon, The (Beirut, Lebanon) Daily Star reported.

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In the interview, published Thursday, Geagea said the collapse of Syrian Assad's regime was "just a matter of time, nothing else."

Given the situation in Syria, Geagea said it's in the "best interest" of Hezbollah, which is backed by Syria and Iran, to disarm and negotiate with the main parties in Lebanon.

"If I were in their [Hezbollah's] shoes ... I would take an immediate and brave step, which could be difficult, but is nevertheless necessary, to engage in serious and direct negotiations with the main [Lebanese] parties ... so as to reach a historic compromise on arms and all other pending issues, because we must admit that Lebanon cannot continue to exist without the Shiites," Geagea said.

"The sooner the party [Hezbollah] negotiates, the better, because changes [in Syria] will gradually reduce the value of weapons ... which will eventually become a burden for [Hezbollah]."

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Meanwhile, The Jerusalem Post reported Thursday Israel's military said it believes Lebanon's Iranian-backed Hezbollah has long-range surface-to-air missiles supplied by Syria, boosting its defenses against the Jewish state's considerable air power.

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