FPM leader Gebran Bassil. (Credit: OLJ)
BEIRUT — Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) leader Gebran Bassil expressed his support for the Lebanese Army on Saturday, following the Trump administration’s cancellation of meetings that Army Commander Rodolph Haykal was scheduled to hold in Washington with U.S. officials earlier in the week.
“Today, our independence is under threat because our land has once again been occupied by an army that seizes territory that is not its own and builds a wall there, and all the ‘sovereign independence advocates,’ old and new, remain silent. Why? Because it is Israel,” Bassil criticized during a speech at a party ceremony.
“These same people know very well how to submit and kneel, and, following the logic of force, they accept reality and remain silent when the Army Commander or the army itself is targeted,” he added.
“That is why, when someone attacks the military institution, you see the Free Patriotic Movement and its supporters express solidarity with the army, unlike those who dislike the army and attack it,” Bassil emphasized.
The national defense strategy
Bassil also praised President Joseph Aoun’s remarks on Friday from southern Lebanon, in which he said he was ready to engage Lebanon fully and effectively in the peace process.
“We appreciate the responsible and thoughtful remarks made by the president, who seeks to defend Lebanon’s rights and prevent a civil war, but that is not enough,” Bassil said. “The initiative he proposed must be transformed into a government-backed proposal.”
On Nov. 18, the United States canceled several meetings that Haykal was scheduled to hold in Washington. The Trump administration had expressed its “exasperation” following his remarks about “Israeli violations of Lebanese sovereignty, which hinder the continued deployment of the army in southern Lebanon.”
Washington was also reportedly unhappy with the army’s lack of urgency in disarming Hezbollah, according to posts on the social media platform X by several U.S. senators.
After Aoun’s speech, however, U.S. President Donald Trump said he was ready to invite him to the White House.
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