While supporting Christian unity, the Lebanese Forces clearly stated on Monday that they will not engage with the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) unless it stops supporting Hezbollah.
Responding to FPM chairman Gebran Bassil’s call on Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rai to unify Christian ranks, the party said in a statement, “We see no reason for getting together with the FPM until Bassil announces that Hezbollah must lay down its weapons.”
“What the Lebanese people desire is the emergence of a real State,” which Hezbollah is impeding, it added.
The statement also underlined the “crisis of trust” caused by retreats from understandings and the reversal of agreements. “Building trust needs time. It is about a path, positions and practical steps, not mere photos and performances,” it said in an obvious allusion to the 2016 Maarab Agreement between the two parties under which the LF endorsed FPM founder Michel Aoun as head of state.
The deal provided for sharing Christian portfolios, as well as a series of principles to reinforce Lebanon’s sovereignty, such as having the Lebanese Army the sole armed entity on Lebanese territory and an independent foreign policy to serve Lebanon’s interests.
However, the statement stressed that the LF believe in the importance of communication with the FPM and between the latter and the opposition camp as a whole.
It said that channels of communication should be maintained, adding, however, that “developing any harmony and accord necessitates national understandings starting with a common vision of sovereignty, which is currently absent.”
