Gebran Bassil recalls Aug. 7, 2001, 'symbol of struggle against political class'

The head of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) and Member of Parliament Gebran Bassil commemorated, in a message on his X account Thursday, the raids of Aug. 7, 2001, calling it "more than a single day, an ongoing path of struggle against a political class that fears freedom of expression."

The FPM leader was referring to the major raids carried out by Syrian troops (who were still occupying Lebanon at the time), along with Lebanese security forces affiliated with them, targeting student committees opposed to the regime, mainly students from the FPM and the Lebanese Forces. Dozens of young people were arbitrarily detained, some for weeks, and often tortured by their jailers who sought to extract false confessions. Aug. 7, 2001, remains a key date in the long campaign against the Syrian occupation, which ended in 2005 after the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and the mass protests that followed.

"We protested, we were beaten, we were detained... but we never kept silent," Bassil said Thursday in his message. He concluded, "Those who believe in a cause never give up, and those who belong to a school of freedom, sovereignty and independence are never defeated."

The founder of the FPM, former President Michel Aoun, was exiled in France for fifteen years (1990–2005) because of his opposition to the Syrian regime.

Gebran Bassil, son-in-law and successor of Michel Aoun at the head of the FPM, appears eager to rekindle the energy that once mobilized a broad section of the Christian street at the time.

However, the FPM’s participation in government and its alliances — often criticized — with figures or groups close to the former Syrian-backed regime, such as Hezbollah, have cost it some of its popularity.

Since the beginning of Joseph Aoun’s new mandate as president in January 2025, succeeding Michel Aoun, and under the government of Nawaf Salam, Bassil and his party have positioned themselves in the opposition. In addition, Bassil has regularly expressed concerns about the new regime in Syria following the ouster of Bashar al-Assad on Dec. 8, 2024.