US Ambassador to Lebanon, Dorothy Shea, visited former President Michel Aoun at his private residence in Rabieh two weeks ago, for the first time since his departure from Baabda. The meeting was marked by the absence of his son-in-law and leader of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), Gebran Bassil, who normally never misses an opportunity to be in his father-in-law’s shadow to ensure that he influences all discussions.
According to well-informed sources, Michel Aoun received the ambassador in the absence of any FPM officials. A former minister told This is Beirut that the diplomat was carrying a “message” to the FPM leader, whom she was unable to meet personally because of US Treasury sanctions against him for corruption. FPM circles preferred to remain silent on the visit and the content of the message that Shea carried, claiming that it was a courtesy visit aimed at discussing developments in the country and the region.
However, those close to the FPM told This is Beirut that Washington considers Gebran Bassil’s stance on the future of the army command to be “grave,” and threatened to cut off all aid, American and/or from other friendly countries, to the army in the event of a vacancy at the head of the military institution. The ambassador also expressed the wish that “the army issue not be politicized and insisted on the preservation of this institution which guarantees security and stability in Lebanon.”
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The army’s Commander-in-Chief, General Joseph Aoun, whose term in office expires on January 10, is loathed by Gebran Bassil, who sees him as a political enemy. Indeed, the two men are at opposite ends of the ethical spectrum: one has dedicated his life to preserving the country and the institution he leads, the other to undermining and destroying everything he touches, with the sole aim of being the “last of the Mohicans” on a land that he himself burnt down and offered to the militiamen of the Iranian mullahs.
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