Lebanese Christian leader says Hezbollah's fighting with Israel has harmed Lebanon

MAARAB, Lebanon (AP) — The leader of a main Christian political party in Lebanon blasted the Shiite militant group Hezbollah for opening a front with Israel to back up its ally Hamas, saying it has harmed Lebanon without making a dent in Israel’s crushing offensive in the Gaza Strip.

In an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday night, Samir Geagea of the Lebanese Forces Party said Hezbollah should withdraw from areas along the border with Israel and the Lebanese army should deploy in all points where militants of the Iran-backed group have taken positions.

His comments came as Western diplomats try to broker a de-escalation in the border conflict amid fears of a wider war.

Hezbollah began launching rockets toward Israeli military posts on Oct. 8, the day after Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel in a surprise attack that sparked the crushing war in Gaza.

The near-daily violence has mostly been confined to the area along the border, and international mediators have been scrambling to prevent an all-out war. The fighting has killed 12 soldiers and 10 civilians in Israel. More than 350 people have been killed in Lebanon including 273 Hezbollah fighters and more than 50 civilians.

“No one has the right to control the fate of a country and people on its own,” Geagea said in his heavily guarded headquarters in the mountain village of Maarab. “Hezbollah is not the government in Lebanon. There is a government in Lebanon in which Hezbollah is represented.” In addition to its military arm, Hezbollah is a political party.

Geagea, whose party has the largest bloc in Lebanon’s 128-member parliament, has angled to position himself as the leader of the opposition against Hezbollah.

Hezbollah officials have said that by opening the front along Israel’s northern border, the militant group has reduced the pressure on Gaza by keeping several Israeli army divisions on alert in the north rather than taking part in the monthslong offensive in the enclave.

“All the damage that could have happened in Gaza ... happened. What was the benefit of military operations that were launched from south Lebanon? Nothing,” Geagea said, pointing the the death toll and massive destruction in Lebanon's border villages.

Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, caused wide destruction and displaced hundreds of thousands to the city of Rafah along Egypt’s border. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Tuesday to launch an offensive into the southern Gaza city of Rafah despite international calls for restraint.

Geagea said Hezbollah aims through the ongoing fighting to benefit its main backer, Iran, by giving it a presence along Israel’s border and called for the group to withdraw from border areas and Lebanese army deploy in accordance with a U.N. Security Council resolution that ended the 34-day Israel-Hezbollah war in 2006.

Geagea also discussed the campaign by his party to repatriate Syrian refugees who fled war into Lebanon.

Those calls intensified after a Syrian gang was blamed for last month's killing of Lebanese Forces official Pascal Suleiman, allegedly in a carjacking gone wrong, although many initially suspected political motives.

Lebanon, with a total population of around 6 million, hosts what the U.N. refugee agency says are nearly 785,000 U.N.-registered Syrian refugees, of which 90% rely on aid to survive. Lebanese officials estimate there may be 1.5 million or 2 million, of whom only around 300,000 have legal residency.

Human rights groups say that Syria is not safe for mass returns and that many Syrians who have gone back — voluntarily or not — have been detained and tortured.

Geagea, whose party is adamantly opposed to the government of President Bashar Assad in Syria, insisted that only a small percentage of Syrians in Lebanon are true political refugees and that those who are could go to opposition-controlled areas of Syria.

The Lebanese politician suggested his country should follow in the steps of Western countries like Britain, which passed controversial legislation last week to deport some asylum seekers to Rwanda.

“In Lebanon we should tell them, guys, go back to your country. Syria exists,” said Geagea, who headed the largest Christian militia during Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war.

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Samir Geagea, leader of the Christian Lebanese Forces party, gestures as he speaks during an interview with the Associated Press, in Maarab east of Beirut, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. Geagea blasted the Shiite militant group Hezbollah for opening a front with Israel to back up its ally Hamas, saying it has harmed Lebanon without making a dent in Israel's crushing offensive in the Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Samir Geagea, leader of the Christian Lebanese Forces party, gestures as he speaks during an interview with the Associated Press, in Maarab east of Beirut, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. Geagea blasted the Shiite militant group Hezbollah for opening a front with Israel to back up its ally Hamas, saying it has harmed Lebanon without making a dent in Israel's crushing offensive in the Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Samir Geagea, leader of the Christian Lebanese Forces party, gestures as he speaks during an interview with the Associated Press, in Maarab east of Beirut, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. Geagea blasted the Shiite militant group Hezbollah for opening a front with Israel to back up its ally Hamas, saying it has harmed Lebanon without making a dent in Israel's crushing offensive in the Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Samir Geagea, leader of the Christian Lebanese Forces party, speaks during an interview with the Associated Press, in Maarab east of Beirut, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. Geagea blasted the Shiite militant group Hezbollah for opening a front with Israel to back up its ally Hamas, saying it has harmed Lebanon without making a dent in Israel's crushing offensive in the Gaza Strip. The Arabic words on the wall read:"Our Lebanon is coming." (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Samir Geagea, leader of the Christian Lebanese Forces party, gestures as he speaks during an interview with the Associated Press, in Maarab east of Beirut, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. Geagea blasted the Shiite militant group Hezbollah for opening a front with Israel to back up its ally Hamas, saying it has harmed Lebanon without making a dent in Israel's crushing offensive in the Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Samir Geagea, leader of the Christian Lebanese Forces party, gestures as he speaks during an interview with the Associated Press, in Maarab east of Beirut, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. Geagea blasted the Shiite militant group Hezbollah for opening a front with Israel to back up its ally Hamas, saying it has harmed Lebanon without making a dent in Israel's crushing offensive in the Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Samir Geagea, leader of the Christian Lebanese Forces party, gestures as he speaks during an interview with the Associated Press, in Maarab east of Beirut, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. Geagea blasted the Shiite militant group Hezbollah for opening a front with Israel to back up its ally Hamas, saying it has harmed Lebanon without making a dent in Israel's crushing offensive in the Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

LONDON (AP) — Prince Harry can't expand his privacy lawsuit against The Sun tabloid publisher to include allegations that Rupert Murdoch and some other executives were part of an effort to conceal and destroy evidence of unlawful information gathering, a London judge ruled Tuesday.

The decision by Judge Timothy Fancourt's in the High Court was a mixed ruling for the Duke of Sussex in one of his three major invasion of privacy lawsuits he has brought in his ongoing battles against British tabloids.

Fancourt rejected several of Harry's proposed amendments, but he also allowed the prince to add allegations against other journalists and private investigators that he claims used unlawful means to snoop on him for scoops.

But Fancourt said allegations that Murdoch “turned a blind eye” to wrongdoing added nothing meaningful to claims made against News Group Newspapers, or NGN. The judge said those claims already include “trusted lieutenants,” such as Murdoch's younger son, James Murdoch, and Rebekah Brooks, who was editor at News of the World and The Sun.

The judge said some of Harry's efforts to blame other executives were to further a political agenda.

“There is a desire on the part of those running the litigation on the claimants’ side to shoot at ‘trophy' targets, whether those are political issues or high-profile individuals,” Fancourt wrote. “Tempting though it no doubt is for the claimants’ team to attempt to inculpate the man at the very top, doing so will add nothing to a finding that Ms. Brooks and Mr. James Murdoch or other senior executives knew and were involved, if that is proved to be the case,” Fancourt wrote.

Brooks is chief executive officer of News UK, a division of News Corp. media holdings that controls The Sun and The Times among other publications. James Murdoch resigned from News Corp. in 2020.

Rupert Murdoch, 93, was executive chairman of News Corp. and director of its subsidiary, News International, now News UK, which was NGN’s parent when News of the World folded. Murdoch stepped down last fall as leader of both Fox News’ parent company and his News Corp.

Both sides claimed victory in the ruling that precedes a trial scheduled early next year, but Fancourt said that it was a split victory with the defense gaining an edge on the issues argued.

News Group said that it welcomed the decision.

The company issued an unreserved apology in 2011 to victims of voicemail interception by the News of the World, which closed its doors after a phone hacking scandal. NGN said it has settled 1,300 claims for its newspapers, though The Sun has never accepted liability.

The three-day hearing in March included claims against NGN by others, including actor Hugh Grant, who accused The Sun of tapping his phone, bugging his car and breaking into his home to snoop on him.

Since then, Grant said he had reluctantly agreed to accept "an enormous sum of money” to settle his lawsuit.

Grant said he had to settle because of a court policy that could have stuck him with a huge legal bill even if he prevailed at trial. A civil court rule intended to avoid jamming up the courts would have required Grant to pay legal fees to both sides if he won at trial but was awarded anything lower than the settlement offer.

Attorney David Sherborne has suggested that Harry may have to settle for the same reason.

Harry has a similar case pending against the owner of the Daily Mail.

Last year, he won his first case to go to trial when Fancourt found phone hacking was “widespread and habitual” at Mirror Group Newspapers. In addition to a court judgment, he settled remaining allegations that included his legal fees.

Prince Harry looks round as he arrives at St Paul's Cathedral for a 'Service of Thanksgiving' celebrating 10 years of the Invictus Games Foundation, in London, Wednesday, May 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)