The leader of Lebanon's largest Christian party said Sunday that a 15-year-old alliance with the country's powerful Shiite group Hezbollah is no longer working and must be developed.
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The televised speech by Gebran Basil, head of the Free Patriotic Movement, signaled an unprecedented level of frustration with Hezbollah and suggested that the 2006 coalition to help maintain peace in the small country was in jeopardy.
Basil's remarks come amid a devastating economic crisis and crucial parliamentary elections, which his party expects fierce competition. Canceling the alliance with Hezbollah would cost him more votes in the May election.
But former Foreign Minister Basil said the coalition had lost credibility with his supporters. Basil is also the son-in-law of Lebanese President Michel Aoun. He has identified himself as a reformer and is believed to have ambitions for the presidency.
Basil expressed his frustration with the powerful Shiite movement led by Hezbollah's other ally, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. He said in recent months Hezbollah had supported Berry's actions at the expense of its own coalition.
"We have reached an understanding, not with Hezbollah (2006)," Basil said in an hour-long speech. "When we find that the person making the decision in (this alliance) is Amal, it is our right to reconsider."
Hezbollah and its allies control most of the seats in parliament and are key supporters of the government that will take office in September. But the government and parliament have been paralyzed as political disagreements deepen and Lebanon faces an unprecedented economic crisis since 2019.
Berry is a longtime rival of Basil, accusing him of using his power in parliament to block many of his draft bills.
Recently, Hezbollah and Amal have been widely criticizing the investigation into last year's Beirut Port investigation, accusing the judge of being biased against its allies – a state of disagreement with Basil's party.
Hezbollah has called for the removal of the judge, who has been linked to "paralysis" within the government. The deadly clashes in October that pitted Amal and Hezbollah supporters against Christian gunmen were fueled by investigative controversy and further strained relations with Basil's party, which accused Amal of violence.
Basil criticized Hezbollah for not supporting his party in reforming the law, which he said was an attempt to eliminate corruption and ensure decentralized fiscal policies or protect the president's constitutional powers. Such choices have left Basil unable to justify his supporters' Hezbollah decisions, he said, blaming Berry openly.
"It is understandable why the Americans want to surround Hezbollah, but it is not clear why (Hezbollah) wants to frustrate them," Basil said of Hezbollah's alliance with Berry.
Hezbollah has been designated by the United States as a terrorist group. Basil has been placed on a US sanctions list for corruption. He claimed that the sanctions were aimed at pressuring him to end his alliance with Hezbollah.
"We do not want to cancel or tear down the Memorandum of Understanding (2006)," Basil said. "But we want it to evolve because it no longer responds to the challenges, especially economic and financial, that are facing us."
Proponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online. For Hezbollah, its alliance with Christian groups, which have traditionally sided with the West, provided cover after the 2006 war with Israel.
"Naturally, if we form an alliance with Hezbollah, we will be electorally strong," Basil said. "But between winning the election and winning ourselves, we choose ourselves, our credibility and our dignity."
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