(Screenshot of the interview with Hezbollah's political council member, Ghaleb Abou Zeynab, given to al-Jadeed on Sunday, Feb. 23, after Hassan Nasrallah's funeral)
The noticeable absence of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) leader, Gebran Bassil, at the popular funeral of Hassan Nasrallah on Sunday, Feb. 23, sparked a new tension between Hezbollah and its former Christian ally. Ghaleb Abou Zeynab, a member of Hezbollah's political council, said, "I understand [Gebran Bassil's absence] politically, but not personally," during an interview with al-Jadeed that same evening, which brought together hundreds of thousands of people.
"I looked for Gebran [Bassil] and was surprised not to see him [at the funeral], even though of course an FPM delegation (MPs Salim Aoun and Cesar Abi Khalil) attended," said Abou Zeynab, one of the main architects of the Mar Mikhael agreement.
Signed on Feb. 6, 2006, by FPM founder Michel Aoun and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, the Mar Mikhael agreement sealed the highly political understanding between the two parties, which has since largely eroded or even been buried, allowing Aoun to reach the presidency ten years later. The day before its commemoration this year, Bassil said, at the time of government formation, that the FPM is "not Hezbollah's ally."
"Personally, and considering … what Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah did for Gebran [Bassil] personally, and more generally for the FPM, yes, he should have been there … and among the first," said Abou Zeynab, adding, "I can understand [his absence] politically, that's fine, but not personally."
However, during the day on Tuesday, the head of the FPM visited the “Ashura tent” set up in the southern suburbs of Beirut to offer his condolences to the relatives of former Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah and his short-lived successor Hashem Safieddine, both killed in an Israeli strike. MP Mohammad Raad and Hassan Nasrallah's son were present, according to photos posted on Gebran Bassil's X account.
'Where were they?'
Relations between the two parties have gradually deteriorated since the end of Aoun's term in October 2022. The FPM particularly took issue with Hezbollah for supporting Sleiman Frangieh's candidacy, leader of the Marada Movement, for the presidency, to the detriment of Bassil, an opponent on the Christian scene of Frangieh. But it was mainly the "support front" in Gaza opened by Hezbollah following the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, and the two months of warfare on Lebanon between September and November 2024 that deepened the rift between the two parties.
Mentioning the fact that the FPM attended the funeral and "stood with the Resistance and its public during the war" between Hezbollah and Israel, Martine Najem Kteily, vice-president for political affairs of the FPM, replied to Abou Zeynab by turning the accusations around: "Where were they when the FPM was a victim of injustices under President Aoun's mandate? Where were they when it came to protecting the partnership at the presidency, against the imposition of the Mikati government and disregard for the will of the Christians?" she wrote on X.
The 'strategic error' of Hezbollah
The FPM lambasted Hezbollah for not supporting the establishment of a state, the issue of the fight against corruption, or the boycott by ministers close to the FPM in the government during the presidential vacancy period that followed Aoun's mandate.
On Tuesday, in his speech before Parliament ahead of the vote of confidence in the government of Nawaf Salam, Bassil again took aim at Hezbollah, stating that it "committed a strategic error when it opened the support front in Gaza."
"Hezbollah lost the national legitimacy allowing it to fight Israel alone, which resulted in the term 'resistance' being removed from the ministerial declaration," he said.
Additionally, and although according to internet users, the two FPM MPs present at the funeral, Salim Aoun and Cesar Abi Khalil, were allegedly booed and called "traitors," without publishing supporting images, Kteily and Michel Abou Najem, journalist and FPM spokesperson, denied these claims to L'Orient-Le Jour.
This article was originally published in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.