Lebanese Forces call on Bassil 'to keep quiet to protect the general situation'

The Lebanese Forces (LF) on Tuesday raised their voices against the leader of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), Gebran Bassil, accusing him of "spreading lies about the LF," before calling on him "to keep quiet to protect the general situation," in a virulent response to his statements during a tour of Akkar on Sunday. Bassil had attacked the LF, highlighting their refusal to engage in dialogue under the leadership of Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to end the presidential vacancy. He had also accused the LF of facilitating the entry of Syrian refugees into Lebanon in 2011.

"We are present within an opposition alliance that includes Christians and Muslims and we are in dialogue with most of the parliamentary blocs. We supported the National Moderation Initiative for the presidential election, we also contributed to the extension [of the mandate of the commander in chief] of the army. We are holding broad discussions, to the point of overlapping with Bassil at the presidential level, but we refuse to dialogue with him because of bad experiences [with his party]," the LF said in their statement.

Bassil has called in recent weeks for "a dialogue or consultations" followed by open electoral sessions opposing a limited number of candidates to put an end to the presidential vacancy, thus joining the position of Berri. The LF continues to refuse to take part in this dialogue.

The FPM and Bassil, LF 'obsession'

On the subject of displaced Syrians, an issue in which the LF and the FPM are passing the buck, Geagea's party accused the FPM of having contributed to their presence in Lebanon.

"Public opinion has still not forgotten the period during which the displaced entered Lebanon, within the framework of a monochrome government in which Bassil had 11 ministers. He also had ministers in the government that followed, before being handed the presidency, with a ministerial and parliamentary majority, and that he got his hands on certain [security] organizations," claimed the LF, also calling on the leader of the FPM "to keep quiet in order to protect the general situation."

"It is clear that the FPM and its president have become an obsession for the leader of the LF, Samir Geagea. The latter seems worried about what he cannot do in terms of politics and dynamics [to unblock the presidential election]," the FPM responded in a statement. Bassil's party also called on "those who wake up, thirteen years later, to the dangers of the displaced Syrians to try to make up for it in the eyes of public opinion ... to keep quiet themselves for a long time, to spare the population."

This article originally appeared in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.