MP Strida Geagea chaired a meeting of the administrative board of the "Cedars Mountain Foundation" in Maarab. A large part of the meeting was dedicated to following up on the project to build the foundation's center in Bcharre and preparing for the launch of its second phase, which includes construction and outfitting works. The meeting was attended by former MP Joseph Ishac, the foundation's vice president Dr. Leila Geagea, treasurer mukhtar Fadi Chidiak, secretary lawyer Mario Saab, certified public accountant Fadi Eid, and MP Geagea’s assistant Romanos Al-Shaar. In this context, Geagea emphasized that "the 'Cedars Mountain Foundation' center is not just a new building in Bcharre, but an additional step in the journey of a foundation we intended, since its inception, to serve humanity so that the individual remains rooted in his land, and to support the region's people socially, developmentally, and humanely, on the basis that true development is not built on fleeting, improvisational initiatives or clientelism, but on comprehensiveness without any discrimination, planning, institutions, and continuity." She said: "We work in the foundation according to a very clear rule: there is a project, a study, a tender, specifications, a consulting entity, an executing entity, oversight, and timeframes. This precisely is our concept of public work, because the funds of institutions, exactly like state and municipal funds, do not belong to anyone, and responsibility is not a privilege, but a trust that must be exercised with transparency, discipline, and accountability." From this standpoint, Geagea moved on to political developments, considering that "Lebanon today is in dire need of restoring this logic in the management of the entire state, because our primary crisis is no longer a crisis of diagnosis. The Lebanese know where the flaws lie, the Arab and international communities know them, and officials know them. What we lack is the definitive transition from the phase of describing the problem and making the decision to the phase of implementing it." She added: "The government has taken clear decisions on the issue of the monopoly of arms and extending state authority, and consequently the question today is no longer what we want, but rather will the state be able to implement what it has decided? Herein lies the real test. A state that takes a decision and does not implement it gradually turns its decisions into mere political positions, whereas what is required is for the republic to restore the meaning of the state in action, not just in name." In this framework, she affirmed her support for the path led by President of the Republic General Joseph Aoun to protect Lebanon’s rights and recover Lebanese territories, considering that "negotiations are not a concession when waged by a state that knows what it wants and preserves its rights, but rather one of the state's tools. What is required today is to give this path its chance, away from posturing and jumping into premature discussions about stages we have not reached yet." Geagea paused at the Lebanese Resistance Martyrs Mass held by the "Lebanese Forces" this week at the party's headquarters in Maarab, saying: "In these days, our memory returns to comrades who preceded us on the path, and to martyrs who did not leave just so that we remain, but so that the cause for which they were martyred remains: that we have a free homeland, a sovereign state, and a decision that only the Lebanese possess." She added: "To these martyrs we say today: Your sacrifices did not go in vain, we have not forgotten the trust, and we will not compromise on it. The path you began with your blood, we complete with our stance, work, and steadfastness, and the Lebanon you dreamed of, as an actual, fully sovereign state, has become closer than ever before." She concluded: "To our martyrs we say: The night has lasted too long, but the dawn of sovereignty you waited for and sacrificed for is near. And we remain here, carrying the trust until the end, until the Lebanon for which you were martyred becomes a reality lived by its children, not a dream inherited across generations." It is worth noting that the works of the first phase of the project to build the Cedars Mountain Foundation center in Bcharre have been launched, including excavation works and the construction of retaining walls, and works will continue successively in preparation for transitioning to the second phase, which will include construction and outfitting works, leading to the completion of this edifice, which will constitute a qualitative addition to the region and its people. Those present discussed the social and livelihood files that the "foundation" has been concerned with for years, affirming its continued permanent focus on social, medical, and educational assistance that contributes to alleviating burdens on our people in the Bcharre district.