Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and CPL leader Gebran Bassil at the National Dialogue in Beirut in 2006. (Credit: Dalati and Nohra)
Gebran Bassil knows well that the victory of Fadi Hanna, the Free Patriotic Movement’s candidate for the Order of Engineers and Architects’ chairmanship, is owed to his alliance with his long-standing rival, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.
This agreement enabled the FPM — in free-fall since 2019 — to score a rare electoral victory after its candidate won 47 percent of the votes, thanks largely to the Shiite voters in the Amal-Hezbollah tandem.
During a speech on Tuesday, Bassil called on his best enemy to collaborate on other issues. After all, one does not change a team that achieves victories.
Bassil and Berri got back in touch several weeks ago via FPM MP Ghassan Atallah, who regularly visited Ain al-Tineh. Berri is not unhappy about that. He needs the Christian support that only one of the community’s two major blocs (Samir Geagea’s Lebanese Forces or the FPM) can grant him on several issues.
In the short term, they include the municipal elections, which Amal and Hezbollah hope to postpone under the pretext of the war in south Lebanon. More importantly, they include national dialogue, a non-condition for Berri to break the deadlock in the presidential election.
Hezbollah is delighted because its two allies are finally putting aside their differences and this rapprochement will enable it to contain Bassil with the Mar Mikhael agreement becoming fragile.
This rapprochement may also reduce the growing tension between Shiites and Christians, especially after the murder of LF Jbeil official Pascal Sleiman, which radicalized the Christian public opinion against the March 8 camp. Above all, Sleiman’s case brought this public opinion around Geagea, to the dismay of Bassil.
‘Halat for sure’
“No one has an interest in civil discord, as some in Lebanon would like,” Atallah told L’Orient-Le Jour, referring to the LF. “Since the start of the war in Gaza, and long before Sleiman’s murder, the country has been in a vulnerable position,” he added.
“Since then, our party has chosen to open channels of dialogue to calm tensions. So it’s only natural that we turn to our adversaries first, and that’s why we’ve decided to reach out to Berri,” he said.
The same is true of Ain al-Tineh. “Berri is committed to national cohesion, and his door is open to all those who want dialogue,” said a source close to Berri. “It’s the only way to prevent another civil war, as some people seem to want,” the source said, in a dig at Geagea.
On Tuesday, Berri criticized the LF leader. “The problem is his rhetoric on federalism,” he said. “He’s taking us back to the days of ‘Halat for sure.’”
In the 1980s, at the height of the Civil War, the LF used this slogan to call for constructing a separate airport in Halat to serve the Christian area. This demand earned the LF accusations of separatism from the opposing camp.
Berri added, “Samir Geagea must understand that there will be no municipal [elections] without south Lebanon. No one can separate this area from the rest of the country.”
In the run-up to the municipal elections — which are due to start on May 19 according to the date set by the interior minister —, the Shiite tandem would like to push through a law in Parliament to extend the term of office of municipal councils by a further year. They argue that it is impossible to hold the elections in south Lebanon due to the ongoing clashes between Hezbollah and Israel.
A parliamentary session to this effect is scheduled for April 25, but it cannot be held without at least one of the two major Christian blocs. However, the LF and the rest of the opposition stress the need to have the local elections on time even if it means postponing the ballot only in villages that are at risk.. They were already postponed twice due to lack of funds. Berri must convince the FPM at all costs to partake in the session to succeed in his attempt.
‘If we can agree on a candidate, why not?’
“We believe that conducting the vote in select areas while excluding others may not be advisable,” said Atallah. “Consider the scenario where Israel bombs the Bekaa on the day of the vote.”
He added, “Regardless, we have informed Nabih Berri that we intend to meet with the Interior Minister to assess his ministry’s readiness before making a decision.”
In contrast, the LF rejects this proposal.
“The minister has reiterated on multiple occasions that he is ready to conduct the vote, and the ministry will assess the situation of each village,” said LF spokesperson Charles Jabbour. However, despite this assurance, the [pro-Hezbollah] March 8 camp is actively seeking to delay the elections, fearing the potential outcome at the ballot box.
Municipal elections present a complex challenge for both Hezbollah and the Amal Movement.
Unlike parliamentary elections, the two parties do not campaign on allied lists, leading to occasional tension within the Shiite community. These tensions would come at a bad time during this period of war.
Additionally, dissident factions could exploit resentment in certain predominantly Shiite villages after enduring six months of Israeli attacks.
Amal and Hezbollah must also navigate the specific dynamics of each town, including those with influential tribal affiliations.
“Fortunately for them, [FPM leader] Gebran Bassil lacks political principles and merely follows a quid pro quo policy,” said Jabbour.
The rapprochement between Berri and Bassil extends beyond the municipal elections.
Central to their discussions is the inevitable presidential crisis. Since the onset of the elections, the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) has rejected the candidacy of the Hezbollah-endorsed candidate Sleiman Frangieh. This discord has strained relations with Hezbollah.
“There is a disagreement over a name,” said Atallah. “We haven’t delved into specific candidates yet, but we are working on devising a dialogue framework that we can engage in.”
According to Atallah, the FPM reached an understanding with Berri that the dialogue would be limited to a maximum of one week, focusing solely on the election of the next president. This process is expected to culminate in a conclave and an election, with provisions to prevent a lack of quorum.
“Regardless of the outcome of this open session, we will accept it,” he said. This mirrors an almost identical rendition of the dialogue formula proposed last year by Berri, albeit met with skepticism from Christian parties, including the FPM.
“The speaker said that he does not oppose his vice-president, Elias Bou Saab [aligned with the FPM], leading the dialogue,” said Atallah, elucidating this shift in stance.
However, indications suggest that Hezbollah and Amal are adamant that Berri himself should assume this role.
However, the symbiotic relations between the two rivals have not reached fruition. On Tuesday, Bassil also faced less vehement taunts from Berri.
In response to Bassil’s proposal for a cease-fire to be negotiated in Lebanon separate from Gaza, the speaker asserted that “separating Gaza from southern Lebanon doesn’t work.”
“The unity of the fronts is intact, whether they approve or not,” he said, acting as a spokesperson for Hezbollah and Iran.
This article was originally published in L'Orient-Le Jour. Translated by Joelle El Khoury.