Samir Geagea, the leader of the Lebanese Forces Executive Council, said that the national dialogue was the only way for Lebanon to get beyond recent strife. Geagea called on President Michel Sleiman to quickly begin the dialogue.

Geagea invited Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir, during a meeting with him in Diman on Sunday, to celebrate a mass in Jounieh on September 21 for members of the Lebanese Forces who died in action.

During the meeting with Sfeir, Geagea discussed last week’s downing of an army helicopter, in which an officer in the Lebanese army was killed, and said the fact that Hezbollah had handed over a suspect was only a partial gesture and not enough to fully resolve the situation.

-NOW Staff