BEIRUT: Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea hit back Friday at Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah, telling him the Lebanese Army alone would deal with defending any future oil installations from Isreali aggression.

“The Lebanese Army, not you, will deal with our oil installations in the event they were exposed to risk,” Geagea told a news conference that addressed the general political situation.

Nasrallah warned Israel Tuesday against trying to steal Lebanon’s maritime resources and said it would retaliate against any Israeli attack on Lebanon’s oil and gas installations.

“Those who harm our installations will have their own installations harmed,” Nasrallah has warned.

The LF leader also accused Hezbollah of “usurping the state.”

But Geagea said that despite the political disagreement with the Hezbollah-led March 8 coalition, “we stand behind the government on the issue of the oil wealth.”

“Who assigned the secretary-general of Hezbollah to look after our rights? Do we have a president and a government?” Geagea asked.

“The Lebanese did not task Sayyed Nasrallah, and he knows that he does not have a mandate from the Lebanese people and that there are Lebanese institutions responsible for that. Yet, he did it.”

While Geagea stressed that Nasrallah knew what he was doing, the LF leader said Nasrallah did so “because he considers himself to be the ruler of Lebanon, not only that but he is acting to be so.”

Geagea, however, said Nasrallah’s acts were “rejected because the rules of Lebanon are the Constitutional institutions.”

Future Movement MP Hadi Hobeish also voiced a similar position to that of Geagea.

“Who asked you [Nasrallah] to set out a strategy, rather than the Lebanese state, under the pretext of protecting maritime resources?” asked Hobeish, who spoke at a forum held in the northern province of Akkar.

Hobeish said the Future Movement-led March 14 coalition would return to power in 2013 “stronger than before,” a reference to the Lebanese parliamentary elections.