According to Al-Jadeed media channel, sources within the Free Patriotic Movement announced that the head of the movement, MP Gebran Bassil, apologized for his inability to host the French presidential envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian next Wednesday due to a prior commitment to a foreign visit.
It is worth mentioning that during Le Drian’s last visit to Lebanon in November 2023, discussions with Bassil were notably tense. Certain sources indicated that the meeting between the two men was brief and marked by tension. The French envoy conveyed to Gebran Bassil that he was the sole dissenting voice against extending the army commander’s term extension. The conversation was fraught with disagreements to the extent that it was deemed preferable to terminate it prematurely.
Le Drian’s fifth visit to Beirut on Tuesday is expected to initiate a fresh phase of the process aimed at paving the path for the election of a president of the Republic.
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