Bassil aligns himself with Hezbollah on issue of disarmament

Although he had previously expressed his support for the disarmament of non-state groups operating inside Lebanon, the leader of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), Gebran Bassil, has now aligned his position on this issue with that of Hezbollah, his former political ally, arguing that the Hezbollah's weapons should not be surrendered without something in return from Israel.

In an interview published on Thursday in the Hezbollah-affiliated daily al-Akhbar, the leader of the Aounist party described "the issue of disarmament" as "a strong card intended to protect Lebanon."

According to him, this card should be used in potential negotiations with Israel to obtain "American and international guarantees to protect Lebanon against Israel, prevent the violation of its sovereignty and domination over its national resources, whether through a joint defense agreement with the United States or through a Security Council resolution."

"We obviously do not support moving towards direct negotiations, as is being proposed today, without any plan and by agreeing in advance to give up everything we have without anything in return, especially since Israel wants us to surrender [our weapons] without any obligations in return," added Bassil.

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The FPM leader also stated that his party, founded by former president Michel Aoun, was not opposed to direct or indirect negotiations with Israel. "Lebanon's outright acceptance, despite its historical position against negotiation and normalization, must come at a price ... For example, Israel should be required to respect the cease-fire, cease its attacks, release prisoners and withdraw from the territories it occupies in exchange for the principle of negotiation," he added.

"Unfortunately, the Lebanese authorities have not addressed any of these points and have not drawn up a document setting out their conditions for negotiation," he said, regretting the lack of a unified position in Lebanon on this issue and describing as a "masquerade" the voices of some within the authorities "who promised to forcibly remove Hezbollah's weapons while assuring the latter that no one would touch its arsenal."

These statements come ahead of a new Council of Ministers meeting devoted to expatriate voting and the process of disarming militias initiated by the government during the summer, during which the Lebanese Army is expected to present another report on the progress made.

Hezbollah, one of the main groups affected by the measure, refuses to hand over its arsenal north of the Litani River as long as Israel still occupies several positions in southern Lebanon and bombs Lebanese territory on a daily basis in violation of the ceasefire agreed at the end of November 2024.

Israel, for its part, wants to obtain broader concessions from Lebanon ahead of a lasting truce, including the disarmament of the area south of the Awali River, the surrender of heavy and medium weapons, the creation of a 5 km deep buffer zone in border villages, and a security agreement similar to the May 17 agreement, with joint patrols with Lebanon and coordination within a 10 km radius, according to some reports. Finally, several signs indicate that the Israeli army has decided to escalate military action.

'Many expatriates do not know the candidates'

The FPM leader also criticized his rival, Lebanese Forces (LF) leader Samir Geagea, who accuses Aoun's party of not wanting to reform the 2017 electoral law to allow the diaspora to vote for all 128 deputies. Currently, the law forms a 16th constituency which allows expats to elect a total of only six MPs.

"In 2017, we passed an electoral law aimed primarily at correcting Christian representation ... At the time, most parties accepted it, and Geagea celebrated the measure at a press conference. Today, for narrow electoral reasons, he opposes this corrective project solely because he was asked to do so, seeing the expatriate vote as a means of gaining one or two additional seats, even at the cost of tickets to Lebanon," Bassil denounced.

"Some want to vote for candidates in Lebanon, but many of the 150,000 voters out of more than 2 million are not interested in the domestic situation and do not know the candidates. Geagea wrongly claims that expatriate representatives only exist in France. That is false," he added.

He also considered that Geagea, whose party repeatedly criticized Aoun's presidential term (from Oct. 31, 2017, to Oct. 30, 2022), "lives in the fantasy of being the sole leader of Christians and seeks to eliminate all opposition."

Alliance with Hezbollah in upcoming elections 'not ruled out'

Bassil has not ruled out a new alliance with Hezbollah in the May 2026 parliamentary elections, despite the differences that ended the agreement between the two parties in the past.

"The FPM is open to all forces and can form electoral alliances with any party, but this must be bilateral and respect the interests of others. Some are trying to impose a blockade to prevent us from forming alliances. The alliance with Hezbollah is based on the interests and consent of both parties. We know the costs and benefits, and we do not want to provoke a party simply because an outside actor is threatening us," he said.