Bassil meets with Jamaa Islamiya at start of south Lebanon tour

Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) leader Gebran Bassil began a tour of south Lebanon on Saturday with a meeting with Bassam Hammoud, deputy director of the Jamaa Islamiya political bureau, in Saida, our correspondent in the region reported.

Bassil is also expected to visit Jezzine as part of the tour.

Bassil and  Hammoud reportedly discussed the political, economic and security situation, as well as the Israeli strikes in Gaza and southern Lebanon. The two leaders also called for the rapid election of a Lebanese president.

"Starting our tour at the Jamaa Islamiya offices is a patriotic gesture … We may not agree on certain political issues, but we must unite internally, especially as we are facing the Israeli threat," Bassil said.

Jamaa Islamiya, a Lebanese movement close to the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, has been taking part in clashes in southern Lebanon against Israel since last October, alongside Hezbollah and other Lebanese and Palestinian factions.

Bassil also met Saida MPs Abdel Rahman Bizri and Ousama Saad, with whom he discussed the situation in the country. The FPM leader and the officials he met insisted on "Lebanon's right to defend its land against the Zionist enemy," according to a press release on the meeting.

The FPM head then visited the Sunni mufti of Saida, Salim Sousan, and the city's Jaafarite mufti, Mohammad Osseiran. "We insist on the need for national understanding in the face of Israel," said Bassil, who also praised "the efforts of the religious authorities in Saida in promoting openness and living together."

Bassil also met the Greek-Catholic Patriarch of Saida and Deir al-Qamar, Elie Haddad, with whom he discussed "the situation of the Lebanese in south Lebanon, particularly Christians, as well as the situation in the border area." Bassil is due to visit the town's municipality before heading for Jezzine.

This article was originally published in French on L'Orient-Le Jour.