The leader of the Free Patriotic Movement, Gebran Bassil, denounced the mass exodus of Syrians to Lebanon on Saturday, asserting that “the government must communicate with the Syrian authorities and the international community” who should, he insisted, “impose the return of Syrian migrants to their country, not beg for futile aid.”
Bassil, who began a two-day visit to the Bekaa on Saturday morning, also described as “dreamers” those parties who “are betting on a change in the balance of power in the region to get their candidate as the head of state, such as betting on an attack on Hezbollah or Iran, an overthrow of Syrian President Bashar Assad or a Syrian-Saudi or Saudi-Iranian agreement.” Continuing in this vein, he reiterated, at a dinner in Zahle, his call for the election of a president “on the basis of a document of understanding that would set out the priorities of the new head of state.”
Furthermore, Bassil was back at it again, arguing for what now seems to be his hobby horse: administrative decentralization and the creation of a sovereign wealth fund. These are two issues on which he insists as part of his negotiations with Hezbollah, in order to monetize his change of attitude towards the pro-Iranian party’s presidential candidate, Marada leader Sleiman Frangieh.
“Decentralization allows Lebanese regions to develop without having to return to the legislative and executive powers,” said Gebran Bassil earlier on Saturday in a wide-ranging discussion with economic organizations in the central Bekaa and Zahle. He pointed out that “the non-approval of decentralization has cost Lebanon thirty-three years.” He also stressed that the Sovereign Wealth Fund “makes it possible to preserve the State’s assets.”
The response was implicit and indirect. “Let no one threaten us by brandishing the slogan of federalist, administrative autonomy or by trying to change the essence of our system,” said Berri’s right-hand man deputy Ali Hassan Khalil at the Islamic University graduation ceremony. “Let no one believe that by launching reductive slogans to strengthen his personal position, he can win or achieve a political feat,” he continued. He concluded by once again calling for dialogue to “get Lebanon out of its crisis.”
