The head of the Free Patriotic Current Gebran Bassil during a press conference held yesterday after the weekly meeting of the Aounist parliamentary group. (Photo from tayyar.org)
BEIRUT — A week after rockets were fired from southern Lebanon towards Israel, the head of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) Gebran Bassil implicitly criticized Hezbollah for its strategy. "We have only one front, which is the Lebanese front," Bassil said to Hezbollah, whose leader has recently advocated in his speeches the "unity of the fronts."
The incident at the border, which remains unclaimed, was attributed by Israel to Hamas. The head of Hamas' political bureau Ismail Haniyah had been visiting Beirut at the time of the launch. Several observers believe that the offense could not have taken place without the support of Hezbollah. The Israeli army retaliated at dawn on April 7 by striking both southern Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, after rockets targeting Israel were also fired from the vicinity of the blockaded Palestinian city.
In a speech delivered on the occasion of the commemoration of the outbreak of the Lebanese civil war on April 13, 1975, the head of the FPM did not fail to adress a lecture the pro-Iranian party.
"The non-Lebanese weapons have made our territory in the past open to all winds. They then turned inwards to try to control the Lebanese decision. We then saw a Lebanese will that developed into a resistance that has the ability and the will to liberate the territory," Bassil said, alluding to Hezbollah, which has made the fight against Israel its main focus. "This is what happened in 2000 and 2006 and has promoted stability and calm in the South," he added.
Adventures 'not calculated'
For Gebran Bassil, "what happened in the last few days is reminiscent of the 1970s, when non-Lebanese weapons were used on the national territory to send messages."
"We have only one front which is the Lebanese front. We are not responsible for the other fronts," he argued, in a thinly veiled dig at Hezbollah. His words come after dozens of rockets were fired last Thursday from Lebanon into Israel territory. The Israeli army retaliated at dawn on April 7 by striking both southern Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, following rocket fire aimed at Israel from the vicinity of the blockaded Palestinian city.
"Our front is our territory; the weapons we accepted to defend this territory are there to protect Lebanon. We are not ready to accept a repeat of previous experiences that led us to war," Bassil said. "We hope that those who have the capacity to prevent non-Lebanese weapons from circulating freely again will act accordingly," he pleaded, in an implicit appeal to his Shiite ally. "We will not accept that anyone leads us into uncalculated adventures and untimely battles for which we will pay the price," he added.
Syrian refugees and 'international conspiracy'
In his speech, Bassil also considered that "today, at least three elements resemble what took place in the past: the presence of refugees, weapons and uncalculated adventures."
"We are living, in view of the presence of Syrian refugees in the country, the same conspiracy that we lived with the asylum granted to Palestinians. The same international conspiracy that pushed the Palestinians to emigrate to Lebanon has pushed the Syrians to do so today, and is opposed to their repatriation, while there is no reason to prevent it," said the MP from Batroun. For the leader of the FPM, it is the "international conspiracy that finances the maintenance of refugees in Lebanon." "No one is advocating violence or racism. Everyone advocates a safe repatriation of refugees," he concluded.
The Lebanese state estimates that 1.5 million Syrian refugees entered Lebanon after the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011, but the official refugee count came to a halt several years ago.
