Muhammad Shuqair wrote in Asharq Al-Awsat:
The political team supporting “Hezbollah” and its opponents keep pace with the general course of its relationship with the head of the “Free Patriotic Movement” MP Gebran Bassil, in light of his recent meeting with the Secretary-General of the party, Hassan Nasrallah, which lasted 6 hours and was devoted to discussing the election of a president for the republic, and ended without results. comfortable; Because Bassil still refuses to vacate the presidential arena for the leader of the “Marada” movement, former MP Suleiman Franjieh.
This team revealed, to Asharq Al-Awsat, that Bassil miscalculated Nasrallah’s reaction, not only by refusing to clear the arena for Franjieh, but also for his initiative to put forward a third candidate for the presidency of the republic who agrees with Franjieh, with his direct sponsorship and guarantee, which forced the latter to close. The door to put it to end the meeting without results! He pointed out that Basil made a mistake twice in his response to Nasrallah. the first when he hastened his refusal to vacate the arena for Franjieh; Being the most fortunate, instead of keeping the door open to communication in light of the political guarantees that he provided to him on bail from Nasrallah personally, while he was not obliged once more to suggest searching for a third candidate.
The same team confirmed that Bassil acted in the meeting as if he was meeting Nasrallah for the first time, so instead of giving himself a space for reflection that would allow him to be alone with former President Michel Aoun, with the participation of his political team, to crystallize a position that blocks the way to block the horizon between them by resuming contact later with Nasr. God, he hastened to burn the stages, and he was not obliged to suggest that he agree to choose another candidate halfway between him and Franjieh, under the direct auspices of Nasrallah.
He believed that Bassil, by refusing to support Franjieh, contributes to weakening the position of the “rejection” team, which is waiting to make its final decision to nominate Franjieh for the presidency. Because it is not permissible to present him to the Lebanese as the candidate supported by the Shiite duo and lacking the Christian recital. He said that Bassil behaves as if he is a copy of Michel Aoun in the political sense, without taking into account that the catastrophic circumstances under which the country is suffering are different from those that existed and led to the election of Aoun as president following the election sessions were disrupted and lasted for two and a half years.
He added that Aoun was not elected president until following he reached a settlement with the head of the “Future Movement,” former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, and another with the head of the “Lebanese Forces” party, Samir Geagea, and this would not be secured for Basil, who had no ally left except for “Hezbollah.”
He stressed that there is no room now to delve into the nature of Bassil’s relationship with “Hezbollah”, which ranges from a cold gift to a hot one, without this saying that the two parties are close to a political divorce. Because their alliance will remain steadfast, as long as the party follows the policy of taking a long breath in its absorption of Bassil, although it insists on targeting its natural ally, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, as an indispensable strategic ally to cut off those who bet on involving them in the political “brothers’ war” this time. which happened in the past.
The same team considered that Nasrallah’s relationship with Bassil was going through a state of apathy, without the party’s communication with him being interrupted through the mobilization and liaison official, Wafiq Safa. He said that the re-establishment of communication between them requires Bassil to review his accounts to purify them from the imbalance that afflicted them. He added that “Hezbollah” is keeping pace with Bassil’s invisible efforts to straighten out his relationship with Washington by lifting the US sanctions imposed on him. He said that his attempts would not meet any objection from the party that dealt with them as coming in the context of punishing him for his alliance with the party.
However, all of this, according to the same team, does not refute what has been rumored within the party’s cadres that Basil’s relationship with Nasrallah is in a state of apathy without being reflected in Safa’s communication with him.
He paused in front of Franjieh’s insistence not to enter directly into a political debate with Basil. Committed to leaving the matter with Nasrallah, who is in charge of following up the file of the relationship between the two arch-allies and paving the way for the axis of opposition to his adoption of the candidacy of the leader of the “Marada” movement.
