The leader of the CPL, Gebran Bassil, during the commemoration of Aug. 7, 2001, organized at Mirna Chalouhi on Aug. 7, 2026. (Credit: NNA)
BEIRUT — The leader of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), Gebran Bassil, lashed out at "those who threaten to bring new Syrians into Lebanon" in a speech delivered on the 25th anniversary of the Aug. 7, 2001 crackdown, a key episode of the Syrian tutelage over Lebanon during the Assad regime era.
"Sick minds need a patron. Today, we see them with Israel, tomorrow with Syria, then against Syria before turning back to Israel. Those who are with the Hebrew state today could tomorrow turn away from it, then lash out at Iran and later at the United States. The FPM, for its part, chooses only Lebanon, which is why it is patriotic and free," declared the head of the party founded by General Michel Aoun.
On Aug. 7, 2001, more than 150 Aounist and Lebanese Forces supporters were arrested following the Druze-Christian reconciliation in the Chouf, in what was presented as one of the Lebanese-Syrian security excesses of that period. The offices of both parties were ransacked, and two Christian leaders, Nadim Lteif and Toufic Hindi, were apprehended.
