Those who contemplate the photo that passed “An-Nahar” yesterday must be stopped by how the head of the “Free Patriotic Movement” appeared laughing, mediating the general secretary of the Tashnak party, Agup Pakradounian, who appeared frowning, and the deputy chairman of the House of Representatives, Elias Bou Saab, who was in a state of melancholy. Here is the question posed by this image: Why is Representative Bassil laughing at his last press conference, where he expressed his anger towards Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, even though he did not name him directly, due to the support of the latter at the convening of the last session of the provisional government, despite all the effort made by Basil to prevent the session from being held due to the absence of the “third block” of government members?
Perhaps the answer to this question is another question: Has anyone ever read Bassil’s statement, heard his voice or seen his photo, mentioning Sayyed Nasrallah’s name and directly criticizing him? There certainly hasn’t been a single time that Basil has done this. The latter, on the other hand, yesterday was completely at ease in criticizing Prime Minister Najib Mikati, recalling the style of the head of the “current”, former president Michel Aoun, whose history has been studded with attacks on the Sunni community and his symbols from the extent to which he dared to speak ill of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri after his martyrdom.
Bassil would not have laughed at the height of his anger against Hezbollah, had he not known that there are limits to which he must adhere when addressing the party leader. This once again explains what the liaison and coordination officer, Wafiq Safa, who is directly responsible for the dossier of relations between the movement and the party said: “Basil sees Sayyed Nasrallah as one of the saints.” In an interview with Hezbollah’s “Al-Ahed” website, Safa added, on the anniversary of the “Mar Mikhael Understanding” in February 2019, “There is a strong friendship between the leader of the movement and the Secretary General of the party, and what stands out is also in the amount of love it retains.” Bassil to Sayyed Nasrallah. Safa explained that the head of the movement is a “shakfa” of President Michel Aoun due to the strong feelings he has for Sayyed Nasrallah, and “since it is known that President Aoun cannot hide the twinkle in his eyes at every meeting he has with Sayyed”.
This was over five years ago, has there been any change in Basil’s opinion of Nasrallah, that he is one of the “saints”?
In the “An-Nahar” information, the mood of “Hezbollah” towards its ally, the head of the “Free Patriotic Movement”, is to work to contain Bassil, no matter how tense relations between them are. Therefore, an emergency meeting of the party leadership was held yesterday, the purpose of which, according to media sources, was to work on reducing the level of tension in Bassil’s position on the grounds that the charter of the “current” and what it represents on the internal Christian level is still valid in the hands of the party, which faces challenges on several levels: in Lebanon. There is a “fear”, as these sources state, that the Lebanese Christian situation will veer towards understanding and unity despite the differences between its pillars, if the party perseveres in indifference towards the feelings of Christians in general and of Maronites in particular regarding the election of a new president for the republic. In this context, it was clear that the “Lebanese Forces” seemed sympathetic to the positions of the “Free Patriotic Movement”, especially as regards the priority of the election of a president for the republic over any other issue, the least of which it was the holding of an extraordinary session for the provisional government. Therefore, the same sources say that most of what Hezbollah wants to focus on now is the lack of alliance or understanding between the two main blocs, the “forces” and the “current”, and the latter will not deviate from the desire of this party.
The first relief, if the expression is correct, is that Basilio, according to media reports, the day after his “anger” at the failure of his attempt to interrupt the government session, “said what he had, and now we have to wait how Hezbollah will react to his words”.
So, Basil is waiting for how he will return to his main position in the alliance with Hezbollah, which means that a call will be received from Bassil’s representative by Mr. Safa, paving the way for a visit by the head of the “movement” to the south suburbs of Beirut to meet the party leader.
Interestingly, Bassil recently repeated his meetings with Nasrallah, as happened some time ago, in order to present a detailed review before him, in which “Basil will not accept the choice of Suleiman Franjieh as president of the republic.”
After the snow of “anger” melted on the government session and “Marj” showed the deep relationship between Haret Hreik and Mirna Chalouhi, there is one topic that was hidden from view in the middle of the government session, which is the contact dossier that would have been held yesterday at the morgue of the session of the general assembly wanted by the president of the representatives of the council Nabih Berri, a session which was to discuss the indictment against three former ministers of communications. In the information, the ‘mainstream’ would be accused in this petition to the extent that the ‘mainstream’ minister mentioned in this petition was going through a critical period in the past weeks, amid expectations that other ‘mainstream’ ministers’ were going to accuse them Has the recent government session led to the volatility of the communications dossier, which represents a service to the “mainstream”, even if it appears “angry”?
When the relationship between “Hezbollah” and the “Free Patriotic Movement” was penetrated to the fullest extent by the “Mar Mikhael understanding” in February 2006, it is an exaggeration to say that the party leader’s tongue is saying: “Bassil, where He wants to go?”?!
