Lebanese Officials: Aoun’s Attempt to Bring Bassil Back to Cabinet Met with Rejection

Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun wearing a face mask, heads a council of ministers meeting at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon April 30, 2020. Dalati Nohra/Handout via REUTERS
Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun wearing a face mask, heads a council of ministers meeting at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon April 30, 2020. Dalati Nohra/Handout via REUTERS
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Lebanese Officials: Aoun’s Attempt to Bring Bassil Back to Cabinet Met with Rejection

Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun wearing a face mask, heads a council of ministers meeting at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon April 30, 2020. Dalati Nohra/Handout via REUTERS
Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun wearing a face mask, heads a council of ministers meeting at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon April 30, 2020. Dalati Nohra/Handout via REUTERS

Lebanese President Michel Aoun has been seeking to promote the formation of a government of political figures that would pave the way for a comeback for his son-in-law Gebran Bassil, who heads the Free Patriotic Movement, senior officials said.

In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, the officials, who were not identified, expressed surprise at Aoun’s attempt to bring Bassil back to the cabinet, after the resignation of Prime Minister Hassan Diab following the deadly bombing that rocked Beirut on August 4.

Not only opposition figures rejected Aoun’s attempts, but also main parties within the so-called “March 8 alliance”, which favored the formation of a “national unity government that would exclude Bassil.”

The same officials pointed out that Bassil has tried in vain to benefit from Hezbollah’s support and to promote Aoun’s proposal during his meeting on Monday with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Hussein Khalil, the political aide to the Hezbollah chief.

Aoun is no longer in a position that allows him to impose his own conditions, the officials said, adding that Bassil’s nomination of former Lebanese ambassador to the United Nations, Nawaf Salam, to head the government, was nothing but a maneuver aimed at extorting the leader of al-Mustaqbal Movement, former Premier Saad Hariri, who was the first to nominate Salam to head the previous cabinet and was met at the time with rejection from the FPM chief and Hezbollah.

Asharq Al-Awsat learned that the schedule, which was set for Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry during his brief visit to Beirut, did not include a meeting with Bassil, although the latter had sought hard to get his share of the talks.

The officials stressed that there was no reason for Bassil to meet with Shoukry as long as the Egyptian FM visited Aoun.

According to the officials, the Egyptian foreign minister urged Lebanese politicians to benefit from Arab and international support, but was quoted as saying that there would only be humanitarian aid.

He stressed that economic and financial support for Lebanon required major measures by Lebanese officials, mainly the implementation of reforms.



Abbas Denounces Israeli Gaza Offensive at UN, Insists: 'We Will Not Leave'

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addresses the 79th United Nations General Assembly at United Nations headquarters in New York, US, September 26, 2024.   REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addresses the 79th United Nations General Assembly at United Nations headquarters in New York, US, September 26, 2024. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
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Abbas Denounces Israeli Gaza Offensive at UN, Insists: 'We Will Not Leave'

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addresses the 79th United Nations General Assembly at United Nations headquarters in New York, US, September 26, 2024.   REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addresses the 79th United Nations General Assembly at United Nations headquarters in New York, US, September 26, 2024. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

The head of the Palestinian Authority denounced Israel and its offensive in the Gaza Strip in front of world leaders Thursday, appealing to other nations to stop what he called a “genocidal war” against a place and people he said had been totally destroyed.
Mahmoud Abbas used the rostrum of the UN General Assembly as he typically does — to criticize Israel. But this was the first time he did so since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas on Israel that triggered an Israeli military operation that has devastated the Gaza Strip.
Abbas strode to the podium to loud applause and a few unintelligible shouts. His first words were a sentence repeated three times: “We will not leave. We will not leave. We will not leave.”
He accused Israel of destroying Gaza and making it unlivable. And he said that his government should govern post-war Gaza as part of an independent Palestinian state, a vision that Israel’s hardline government rejects.
“Palestine is our homeland. It is the land of our fathers and our grandfathers. It will remain ours. And if anyone were to leave, it would be the occupying usurpers," The Associated Press quoted him as saying.
A nationwide series of campus protests against Israel's operations in Gaza swept the United States in the spring and largely originated at Columbia University, about 70 blocks north of the United Nations.
“The American people are marching in the streets in these demonstrations. We are appreciative of them," Abbas said.
Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 41,500 Palestinians and wounded more than 96,000 others, according to the latest figures released Thursday by the Health Ministry.

Abbas spent big chunks of his speech at the United Nations talking about the state of life in Gaza, and he painted a bleak picture.
"Entire family names have been written out of the civil record," he said. "Gaza is no longer fit for life. Most homes have been destroyed. The same applies for most buildings. ... Roads. Churches. Mosques. Water plants. Electric plants. Sanitation plants. Anyone who has gone to Gaza and known it before would not recognize it anymore.”
Among his demands, none of which are new: A full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip — not “buffer zones.” Allowing Gaza's displaced Palestinians — an estimated 90% of the population — to return to their homes. And a central role for Abbas' government in any future Gaza.
“Stop this crime. Stop it now. Stop killing children and women. Stop the genocide. Stop sending weapons to Israel. This madness cannot continue. The entire world is responsible for what is happening to our people in Gaza and the West Bank.”