Whoever contemplates the photo that topped “An-Nahar” yesterday must be stopped by how the head of the “Free Patriotic Movement” appeared laughing, mediating the Secretary-General of the Tashnak Party, Agup Pakradounian, who appeared frowning, and the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Elias Bou Saab, who was in a state of gloom. Here comes the question posed by this image: Why is Representative Bassil laughing at his last press conference, where he expressed his anger at Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, even if he did not name him directly, because of the latter’s support for the convening of the last session of the caretaker government, despite all The effort made by Basil so that the session would not take place through the absence of the “blocking third” of the government members?
Perhaps the answer to this question is another question: Has anyone ever read Bassil’s statement, heard his voice, or seen his picture, mentioning Sayyed Nasrallah’s name and criticizing him directly? There certainly wasn’t a single time Basil did that. On the other hand, the latter was completely comfortable yesterday as he criticized Prime Minister Najib Mikati, recalling the style of the head of the “current”, former President Michel Aoun, whose history was full of attacks on the Sunni community and its symbols to the extent that he dared to speak ill of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri following his martyrdom.
Bassil would not have laughed at the height of his anger at Hezbollah, had he not known that there are limits that he must adhere to when addressing the party’s leader. This explains once more what the Liaison and Coordination Officer, Wafiq Safa, who is directly responsible for the file of relations between the movement and the party, said, “Basil views Sayyed Nasrallah as one of the saints.” In an interview with Hezbollah’s “Al-Ahed” website, Safa added, on the occasion of the anniversary of the “Mar Mikhael Understanding” in February 2019, “There is a strong friendship linking the leader of the movement with the Secretary-General of the party, and what is also distinguished lies in the amount of love he stores.” Bassil to Sayyed Nasrallah. Safa explained that the head of the movement is a “shakfa” from President Michel Aoun in terms of the strong feelings he has for Sayyed Nasrallah, and “as it is known that President Aoun cannot hide the sparkle of his eyes in any meeting he has with Sayyed.”
This was more than five years ago. Has there been any change in Basil’s view of Nasrallah that he is one of the “saints”?
In “An-Nahar” information, the atmosphere of “Hezbollah” towards its ally, the head of the “Free Patriotic Movement”, is to work to contain Bassil, no matter how tense the relations between them are. Accordingly, an emergency meeting of the party leadership was held yesterday, and its purpose, according to media sources, was to work to reduce the level of tension in Bassil’s position on the basis that the card 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 more than one level. In Lebanon. There is a “fear”, as these sources put it, that the Lebanese Christian situation will turn towards understanding and unity despite the differences between its pillars, if the party perseveres in indifference to the feelings of Christians in general and the Maronites in particular regarding the election of a new president for the republic. In this context, it was clear that the “Lebanese Forces” seemed to be in harmony with the positions of the “Free Patriotic Movement”, especially with regard to the priority of electing a president for the republic over all other matters, the latest of which was the holding of an extraordinary session for the caretaker government. Therefore, the same sources say that most of what Hezbollah wants to focus on now is the lack of an alliance or understanding between the two major blocs, the “forces” and the “current”, and the latter will not deviate from this party’s desire.
The first relief, if the expression is correct, is that Basil, according to what was reported by the media, the day following his “anger” at the failure of his attempt to disrupt the government session, “said what he had, and we now have to wait for how Hezbollah will react to his words.”
So, Basil is waiting for how he will return once more to his main position in the alliance with Hezbollah, which means that a call will be received by Representative Bassil from Mr. Safa, paving the way for a visit by the head of the “movement” to the southern suburbs of Beirut to meet the party leader.
It is noteworthy that Bassil has recently used to repeat meetings with Nasrallah, as happened a while ago, in order to present a detailed review before him, in which “Basil will not accept the selection of Suleiman Franjieh as president of the republic.”
After the “anger” snow melts over the government session and “Marj” shows the deep relations between Haret Hreik and Mirna Chalouhi, there is a topic that has been hidden from view in the midst of the government session, which is the file of contacts that would have been yesterday on the morgue of the general assembly session that was called for by the chairman of the council Representatives Nabih Berri, a session that was to discuss the indictment once morest three former ministers of communications. In the information, the “current” would have been accused in this petition to the extent that the minister of the “mainstream” mentioned in this petition was going through a critical period in the past weeks, amid expectations that other ministers of the “current” were regarding to accuse them. Did the government’s recent session lead to the volatility of the communications file, which represents a service to the “mainstream”, even if it appears that it is “angry”?
When the relationship of “Hezbollah” and the “Free Patriotic Movement” has penetrated to the greatest extent since the “Mar Mikhael understanding” in February 2006, is it an exaggeration to say that the tongue of the party leader is saying: “Bassil, where does he want to go?”?!