Free Patriotic Movement leader Gebran Bassil (L) with Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri (Credit: Hassan Ibrahim / Lebanese Parliament)
BEIRUT — After meeting Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri in Ain al-Tineh on Tuesday, Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) leader, Gebran Bassil, said that he agrees with Berri on "rejecting strife and safeguarding the military institution."
Berri has repeatedly criticized the framework agreement between Lebanon and Israel reached last Friday, saying that he "saw discord in it." Bassil has also criticized the agreement stopping short of rejecting it outright. "It is beneficial if it enables us to recover all our rights, but dangerous if it becomes a source of discord," Bassil had said.
The framework agreement signed on Friday provides, among other measures, for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from two "pilot zones" in occupied southern Lebanon and their handover to the Lebanese Army. However, the agreement does not specify a timeline for Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon, and makes it contingent on Hezbollah's disarmament.
"We agree with Berri on two points: first, rejecting the strife that resurfaces from time to time; and second, protecting the country by safeguarding the symbol of its national unity, namely the military institution, and not undermining it," Bassil said.
"We remain committed to the same effort to protect Lebanon and to rally as many Lebanese as possible around this idea. No matter our political differences, if we do not agree on protecting Lebanon, its very existence will be at risk," he added.
Bassil said the FPM supports "everything that protects Lebanon and preserves its sovereignty, independence, and the state as the center of decision-making and legitimacy, so that both decision and arms are exclusively in its hands."
"We oppose anything that fuels strife, for through our unity we can confront any external threat," he added.
According to local media, during the meeting Berri showed Bassil images of the southern village of Majdal Zoun (Sour district) which was "cut in two" by a large-scale Israeli demolition blast overnight between Sunday and Monday.
About three months ago, amid the war between Hezbollah and Israel, Bassil launched a “dialogue initiative”, which calls for “Lebanon’s neutrality” in regional conflicts and “the adoption of a national defense strategy, with a view to a just peace that guarantees all the rights of the Lebanese.”
