Marilyn Wahba wrote in “The Republic”:
The head of the “Free Patriotic Movement”, Gebran Bassil, realizes that the opposition was impatiently awaiting the end of Michel Aoun’s mandate, and he was sure that he was waiting days and hours for his mandate to end, except in the night del After his departure from Baabda Palace, he continued to bet on the stability of “Hezbollah” at his side, so he slept “reassured”!
Basil woke up the next day, not believing his conclusions early in the morning, and he is the one who does not close his eyes for more than two hours in 24 hours. In the political calculation, he understood that he would no longer be able to remain “comfortable” on the relationship between him and his first ally, and he understands, of course, the size of his opponent and implicitly recognizes the difficulty of the confrontation option between him and the “party”, which is no longer just an internal player, but a regional player. However, the head of the movement realizes at the same time that the name of Gebran Bassil is also a difficult, disturbing, hindering and active figure, with whom incendiary and destructive languages are buzzing at the same time, and his name is disputed against from all media and abuzz with its news and admits that it is rich material for its dissemination and the head of a large Christian bloc.. Therefore, the party realizes the value of its role in drafting the presidential election session .
However, Bassil’s awareness of these facts did not prevent him from reconsidering the “Taqreesh” relationship between him and Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in particular, who was reassured, patient and satisfied with this relationship, after Sayyid Hassan reassured him in the famous session that lasted almost 7 hours before the elections, Mar Mikhael’s agreement is fixed. And how much Bassil was delighted with the dose of support he received from the maestro, when the latter praised in his most important appearances the patriotism and loyalty of the head of the “Free Patriotic Movement”, after the issuance of sanctions against Basil, so he informed everyone that Gebran, who is murdered by the media, will remain a patriotic friend and ally, who will appreciate Party this attitude! However, the truth is not in what a person says publicly, according to Gibran the Prophet, “Rather, the opposite of what he says, so if you want to know him, do not listen to what he says, but listen to what he does not say.” This is the conviction of the “Basilians” in the emerging stage. Because they see that, despite the party’s explicit and direct declaration of support for Basil, they are suspicious of Hezbollah’s intentions towards their president. So they see today that it counts to ten before the big Bang…
They claim that Basil, during his night nap, will not believe the outcome of his accounts. Just as it will be clear to him that the boss has reneged on his promises, just as Basil, by his nature, will not be able to accept that “Hezbollah” has neglected the sacrifices he has made to the party, and has led him to receive a package of international sanctions who really needs more than a team from Qatar to remove them! And all this thanks to his choice to ally with Hezbollah. Similarly, Bassil, by his nature, will not understand that “Hezbollah” neglected his rejection of American offers (although the recent administration has denied the matter) in exchange for abandoning his alliance with the party and announcing audience of the matter…
Bassil will not understand that he failed to convince “Sayyid Nasrallah” of the inadmissibility and permissibility of proceeding with the appointment of Suleiman Franjieh to the presidency of the Republic, especially since he is known for his skill and advantage in persuading his interlocutors, and for her ability to influence others during their babysitting job…
Bassil, “the master”, asked, “What did Franjieh offer the resistance, and what did I offer the resistance?” What is Franjieh’s parliamentary and popular position compared to my popular, patriotic and Christian position? These are the alleged questions that Basilio asked the “master”, according to his visitors. According to Basil’s account, Franjieh, although he was loyal to the resistance, was a spectator, but Basil was loyal and received the arrows of the inside and outside on his chest before, during and after October…
And for the sake of what has been said, Basilio hoped that the party would appreciate the scale of these sacrifices, but the latter seemed to silently ignore them in favor of his main strategic calculations, that is, “the weapon of resistance.”
Silent War
Indeed, Bassil’s statement to FRANCE 24, in which he spoke of weaponizing the resistance to serve it with the party, especially after he did not consider the party weapon a priority for him, “Rather, people’s concerns are one priority”. This may be the direct reason that angered the party, so they declared open war between him and Bassil, after he went into hiding, as he was no longer “reassured”, which increased the level of tension between the two sides. .. but in Basil’s calculations, his statement from France has nothing to do with the qualitative transformation of the relationship between the two parties, but rather sees that the party had made its choice in advance. When it accepted the continuation of the Mikati government as caretaker, at a time when the party assured Bassil at that stage that Mikati would form a new government, not of his own will, but by “a strong brother, not a hero”, indicating by this statement a guarantee granted to him by the party, and that President Aoun will not leave Baabda Palace before the new government takes office, “even if he wants the resurrection to happen”.
in fact
On Thursday evening, that is, the evening of Mikati’s summons to convene a cabinet meeting, Basil was quick to respond to Hezbollah’s second, hard and direct message, which concluded that a cabinet meeting should be held.’ Mikati, and hurried to assemble it and drafted a joint communiqué in coordination with all the ministers who signed it and, after their unanimous approval, the communiqué came out of the movement’s mobile media offices.
Those who know the reasons for the transition from silent to public war between Bassil and the party believe that Bassil may have rushed to issue the nightly declaration, although he rarely made tactical mistakes! Not having to issue a declaration of defiance at night, he allowed those waiting by the riverside the opportunity and time to move at night and move from slow warfare to rapid confrontation, adopting Plan “B”, which is still unclear and its reality fluctuates between pressure and a threat to Minister King’s special interests. Therefore, those close to Basil believe that he should have surprised Mikati and those behind him on the morning of the session by not having a quorum… as it would have been more appropriate to secretly agree with the ministers who decided not to attend without making a press release which the “party” considered directed against him personally, and which he was aware was a response to his subsequent messages to Basil, and not a response to Mikati’s insistence, which Basil explicitly announced yesterday, when he felt that the Mikati’s message role in this game is limited, and it is limited to a postman, whose mission history is limited and his term expires “in contact with the US Congress,” as Basil said.
Daytime surprise
That night Basil recovered his anger and enjoyed the euphoria of victory caused by his night direct hit, after his return hit the target, so he scored a double point in the goal by Mikati and his operators. a government session in the absence of a President of the Republic, to confirm that it is still a difficult number despite the end of the mandate of the Pact, and that it still clings to the third guarantor.
Bassil slept peacefully that night, but awoke on the morning of the session to the surprise of the day and to “God’s will” and his “feast”. The third blockade has become in the hands of the party, which those close to the head of the movement read as a double betrayal on the part of the allies, and not as weakness or retreat on the part of Basilio. As a result, it becomes clear why the party preferred to keep the current government. He can no longer bear Basil’s “longing” at every joint and station. Likewise, the party is no longer “reassured” about Bassil’s priorities, which he announced from France.
Instead, it seems that the feeling is mutual for Basil. The latter is no longer satisfied with a nominal alliance that has paid the price more than it has benefited and still is, and he implicitly announced it yesterday in his conference, warning the party that “the dignity of the movement is more important than the any understanding.” Furthermore, Basil is no longer reassured by Frangieh’s promises and the sincerity of his intentions in the event of his accession to the presidency, as he sees that he has failed the “first Christian test”, at a time when the head of the movement seems more reassured of his sworn enemy, i.e. the “Lebanese forces”, who have opted for the Maronite Patriarchate by clinging to Maronite presidential rights, even at the expense of the “forces” who adopt the position of his bitter rival.
In parallel, the Lebanese scene is anticipating the possibility that Bassil will move to the opposition front, at a time when information has leaked indicating the resumption of meetings between MPs Melhem Al-Riyashi and Ibrahim Kanaan. Is it a presidential dish?
Cruel announcement
Likewise, supporters of the “Free Patriotic Movement” eagerly followed Basil’s direct response yesterday, to appease their anger. Appearing more than ever to respond directly to the “timekeeper operators”, he could not wait until Sunday, especially after the night meeting he had with the eight ministers via ZOOM the day before yesterday, so he decided to step up, confront and responding to a subsequent package of messages burdening him, in At the time of reporting, the accumulations between him and the party have reached their limit, and will prompt him to collect large and important comparison papers, which are constitutional and legal papers. Since Bassil will once again arm himself with the power and exclusivity of signatures, in particular the signature of the President of the Republic on government decrees, which provided that the Council of Ministers collectively, i.e. the 24 ministers, and did not provide that the Prime Minister sign all decrees. Therefore, the session and its decisions and decrees are considered void and unconstitutional… From here we will start… From here it seems that “God’s will” and “his party” were not helped by the intercession of ” Mar Michael” .
