Muhammad Shuqair wrote in Asharq Al-Awsat:
The political team supporting “Hezbollah” and its opponents are keeping abreast of the general trend in its relations with the head of the “Free Patriotic Movement” MP Gebran Bassil, in light of his recent meeting with the general secretary of the party, Hassan Nasrallah , which lasted 6 hours and was dedicated to discussing the election of a president for the republic, and ended without results. Because Bassil still refuses to leave the presidential arena to the leader of the “Marada” movement, former MP Suleiman Franjieh.
This team revealed, in Asharq Al-Awsat, that Bassil miscalculated Nasrallah’s reaction, not only by refusing to clear the arena for Franjieh, but also by his initiative to propose a third candidate for the presidency of the republic who is d agreement with Franjieh, with his direct sponsorship and guarantee, which forced the latter to close. The door to put her to close the meeting without results! He pointed out that Basil erred twice in his response to Nasrallah. the first when he rushed his refusal to leave the arena for Franjieh; Being the luckiest, instead of keeping the door open to communication in the light of the political guarantees that he personally provided him on bail from Nasrallah, while he was not obliged to re-propose the search for a third candidate.
The same team confirmed that Bassil acted in the meeting as if he were meeting Nasrallah for the first time, so instead of allowing himself a space for reflection that would have allowed 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 subsequently resuming contact with Nasr Dio, hastened to forge ahead, and was not obliged to suggest that he agree to choose another candidate halfway between he and Franjieh, under the direct auspices of Nasrallah.
He believes that Basil’s refusal to support Franjieh is helping to weaken the position of the “rejection” team, which is waiting to make the final decision to nominate Franjieh for the presidency. Because it is not licit to present him to the Lebanese as the candidate supported by the Shiite duo and devoid of the Christian aspect. He said that Bassil behaves as if he were a copy of Michel Aoun in a political sense, without taking into account the fact that the catastrophic circumstances facing the country are different from those that existed and which led to the election of Aoun as president after the electoral sessions were interrupted and lasted two and a half years.
He added that Aoun was not elected president until he reached an agreement 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 assured for Basil, who had no more allies than “Hezbollah”.
He stressed that there is now no room to delve into the nature of Bassil’s relationship with “Hezbollah”, which ranges from a cold to a warm present, without saying that the two sides are close to a political divorce. Because their alliance will stand firm, as long as the party follows the policy of taking a breather along Bassil’s takeover, even as it insists on targeting his natural ally, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, as an indispensable strategic ally to cut off those I bet to involve them this time in the political “war of the brothers”, which happened in the past.
The same team felt that Nasrallah’s relationship with Bassil was going through a state of apathy, with no party communication with him being disrupted through the mobilization and liaison officer, Wafiq Safa. He said that restoring communication between them requires Bassil to review his accounts to cleanse them of the imbalance that afflicted them. He added that “Hezbollah” is keeping pace with Bassil’s stealth efforts to straighten its relations with Washington by lifting the US sanctions that have been imposed on it. He said his attempts would not meet any objection from the party which treated them as falling within the context of its punishment for its alliance with the party.
All this, however, according to the same team, does not deny what is rumored within party cadres according to which Basil’s relationship with Nasrallah is in a state of apathy that is not reflected in Safa’s communication with him.
He stopped short of Franjieh’s insistence that he not enter directly into a political debate with Basil. Pledge to leave the matter to Nasrallah, in charge of following the dossier of relations between the two arch-allies and paving the way for the opposition axis to adopt the candidacy of the leader of the “Marada” movement.
