HARISSA, Lebanon (AFP) Sun Sep 24, – Anti-Syrian Christian leader Samir Geagea scoffed at Hezbollah’s claims of victory in its devastating conflict with Israel, during a rally attended by tens of thousands. "We are the victors, and yet we do not feel it was victory but rather that a real catastrophe befell our country, and that our fate and destiny are at the mercy of the winds," said the Lebanese Forces (LF) leader and member of Lebanon’s "March 14" group Sunday.

Crowds flocked to a hilltop Maronite cathedral in Harissa in the Christian heartland north of Beirut, site of a giant statue of the Virgin Mary, for a mass and to hear Geagea speak at the rally staged as a memorial for "martyrs" of his party members killed during Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war.The Christian television network, LBC, close to the LF, said some 90,000 people were expected to flock to the scene, but an independent figure for the turnout was unavailable.

The rally came two days after Syrian-backed Shiite group Hezbollah held a giant demonstration in Beirut to celebrate "victory" in the July-August war with Israel."We are the victors because it was us who were demanding the (Lebanese) army’s deployment (in south Lebanon), backed by UNIFIL (peacekeepers), while they were opposed," said Geagea, without naming Hezbollah.

The March 14 group, which includes parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri, a Sunni Muslim, and Druze chief Walid Jumblatt, criticised Hezbollah’s capture of two Israeli soldiers on July 12 that sparked the conflict and has called for the group to disarm.

"They demand a strong state but how can a strong state be build with a statelet within its midst? How can it be done with arms and ammunition continuing to flow in, when they force the state to follow their own schedule?" asked Geagea.

"We say to them what once we find a solution to the arms, it will be possible to build a strong state," he said, keeping a calm tone throughout his speech.

Geagea, 53, a former head of the LF militia which was disbanded after the civil war, became the only warlord to stand trial for crimes committed during the conflict. He was sentenced to several life sentences for murder and attempted murder.

He spent 11 years in solitary confinement before the rise of the anti-Syrian camp following the February 2005 assassination of former premier Rafiq Hariri and the subsequent pullout of Syrian troops whose country was widely accused of the murder.

Geagea was freed under an amnesty law passed by the Lebanese parliament in July 2005.