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Who is Lebanon's Gebran Bassil?

A man steps on posters depicting head of Lebanon’s FMP Gebran Bassil with the Arabic word ‘leave’ during a demonstration on October 26, 2019. (AFP)
A man steps on posters depicting head of Lebanon’s FMP Gebran Bassil with the Arabic word ‘leave’ during a demonstration on October 26, 2019. (AFP)
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Who is Lebanon's Gebran Bassil?

A man steps on posters depicting head of Lebanon’s FMP Gebran Bassil with the Arabic word ‘leave’ during a demonstration on October 26, 2019. (AFP)
A man steps on posters depicting head of Lebanon’s FMP Gebran Bassil with the Arabic word ‘leave’ during a demonstration on October 26, 2019. (AFP)

The United States imposed sanctions on Friday on influential Lebanese politician Gebran Bassil, the son-in-law of President Michel Aoun, over “systemic corruption”.

“The systemic corruption in Lebanon’s political system exemplified by Bassil has helped to erode the foundation of an effective government that serves the Lebanese people,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.

A senior US official said Bassil’s support for the Iranian-backed Shiite Hezbollah party which the United States deems a terrorist group is “every bit of the motivation” for the move to sanction Bassil. Washington has sanctioned several Hezbollah members.

Reuters presents some background on Bassil:

President Aoun’s closest adviser
Bassil is one of Lebanon’s most influential politicians. A Maronite Christian, he harbors presidential ambitions, and has been Aoun’s senior adviser since 2005. Under Lebanon’s sectarian political system the president must be a Maronite.

In 2015, he became head of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), founded by Aoun and the biggest Christian political bloc in Lebanon’s sectarian power-sharing system. The FPM has defined itself as a party defending Christian rights.

Bassil, 50, is married to one of Aoun’s three daughters, Chantal.

Saad Hariri, who last month was named prime minister for a fourth time, has described Bassil as a “shadow” president, a comment reflecting the widely held belief that he exercises substantial sway over Aoun, 87, who became head of state in 2016.

Bassil has served as minister of telecoms, minister of energy and water and minister of foreign affairs.

Hezbollah’s ally
Since the FPM forged a political alliance with Hezbollah in 2006, Bassil has defended the heavily armed group as vital to the defense of Lebanon. For Hezbollah, the alliance has provided a Christian seal of approval for its weapons.

Standing alongside US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in 2019 during a visit to Beirut, Bassil disputed Washington’s designation of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, calling it a group with large popular support and MPs in parliament.

In a recent speech, Bassil said some in his party were questioning why it was sticking by its “understanding” with Hezbollah, saying the party was paying a heavy price while the group was not doing its part to reform Lebanon.

“We say to them that we are with them against Israel and terrorism”, Bassil said, the latter a reference to Hezbollah’s campaign against extremist groups including ISIS.

“The price, even if we pay it, is the defense of Lebanon.”

Bassil told Reuters in July that Lebanon, grappling with an economic meltdown, was facing a “financial siege” imposed by international powers as foreign donors linked any bailout to reforms to tackle endemic corruption and waste.

“When there is a desire to help Lebanon, tomorrow the gates will be opened. And when there are great powers blocking the gates, Lebanon does not have capacity to open them,” he said.

Target of protesters’ ire
Bassil has been a target of protests that erupted in October 2019 against a political class accused of bad governance, mismanagement and rife corruption that pushed the economy to collapse. His critics associate him with the numerous failures of the state as the FPM’s role in government has expanded.

The clearest example is the failure to address the loss-making power sector that cost state coffers billions of dollars while power cuts persisted despite promises to fix the grid during a decade of his party’s control of the energy ministry.

Bassil says he has been targeted for “political assassination” and demonized by his adversaries. He said on Friday that the US sanctions did not scare him.

He has sparred at one time or another with most of Lebanon’s main factions.

In 2018, he was caught on camera describing veteran parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, the head of the Amal Movement and one of Aoun’s civil war foes, as a “thug”. The army was forced to deploy to ease the resulting street tensions.

He has been at political loggerheads with Hariri since last year. Each has accused the other of obstructing reforms.

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Lebanese Whose Homes Were Destroyed in the War Want to Rebuild. Many Face a Long Wait

FILE - A man pauses as he looks at destroyed buildings in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)
FILE - A man pauses as he looks at destroyed buildings in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)
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Lebanese Whose Homes Were Destroyed in the War Want to Rebuild. Many Face a Long Wait

FILE - A man pauses as he looks at destroyed buildings in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)
FILE - A man pauses as he looks at destroyed buildings in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)

Six weeks into a ceasefire that halted the war between Israel and Hezbollah, many displaced Lebanese whose homes were destroyed in the fighting want to rebuild — but reconstruction and compensation are slow in coming, The Associated Press reported.
Large swaths of southern and eastern Lebanon, as well as Beirut’s southern suburbs, lie in ruins, tens of thousands of houses reduced to rubble in Israeli airstrikes. The World Bank estimated in a report in November — before the ceasefire later that month — that losses to Lebanon's infrastructure amount to some $3.4 billion.
In the south, residents of dozens of villages along the Lebanon-Israel border can't go back because Israeli soldiers are still there. Under the US-negotiated ceasefire deal, Israeli forces are supposed to withdraw by Jan. 26 but there are doubts they will.
Other terms of the deal are also uncertain — after Hezbollah's withdrawal, the Lebanese army is to step in and dismantle the militants' combat positions in the south. Israeli officials have complained the Lebanese troops are not moving in fast enough — to which they say the Israeli troops need to get out first.
Reconstruction prospects — and who will foot the bill — remain unclear.
In 2006, after the monthlong Israel-Hezbollah war, Hezbollah financed much of the $2.8 billion reconstruction with ally Iran's support.
The Lebanese militant group has said it would do so again and has begun making some payments. But Hezbollah, which is also a powerful political party, has suffered significant losses in this latest war and for its part, Iran is now mired in a crippling economic crisis.
The cash-strapped and long paralyzed Lebanese government is in little position to help and international donors may be stretched by the post-war needs in the Gaza Strip and neighboring Syria.
Many Lebanese say they are waiting for Hezbollah's promised compensation. Others say they received some money from the group — much less than the cost of the damage to their homes.
Manal, a 53-year-old mother of four from the southern village of Marjayoun has been displaced with her family for over a year, since Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, in support of its ally Hamas in Gaza.
Israel responded with shelling and airstrikes in southern Lebanon. In July, Manal's family heard that their home was destroyed. The family has now sought compensation from Hezbollah.
“We haven’t received any money yet,” said Manal, giving only her first name for fear of reprisals. “Maybe our turn hasn’t arrived."
On a recent day in southern Beirut, where airstrikes had hit just 100 meters (yards) away from his home, Mohammad watched as an excavator cleared debris, dust swirling in the air.
He said his father went to Hezbollah officials and got $2,500 — not enough to cover $4,000 worth of damage to their home.
“Dad took the money and left, thinking it was pointless to argue,” said Mohammad, who also gave only his first name for fear of repercussions. He said his uncle was offered only $194 for a similarly damaged home.
When the uncle complained, Mohammad said, Hezbollah asked him, “We sacrificed our blood, what did you do in the war?”
Others, however, say Hezbollah has compensated them fairly.
Abdallah Skaiki, whose home — also in southern Beirut — was completely destroyed, said he received $14,000 from Qard Al-Hasan, a Hezbollah-linked microfinance institution.
Hussein Khaireddine, director of Jihad Binaa, the construction arm of Hezbollah, said the group is doing as much as it can. Its teams have surveyed over 80% of damaged houses across Lebanon, he said.
“We have begun compensating families,” he said. “We have also started providing payments for a year’s rent and compensations for furniture.”
Khaireddin said their payments include $8,000 for furniture and $6,000 for a year’s rent for those living in Beirut. Those who are staying elsewhere get $4,000 in money for rent.
Blueprints for each house are being prepared, he said, declining to elaborate on reconstruction plans.
“We are not waiting for the government," he added. “But of course, we urge the state to act."
There is little the government can do.
The World Bank's report from mid-November said Lebanon's infrastructure and economic losses from the war amount to $8.5 billion. And that estimate doesn't take into account the last month of the war, Deputy Prime Minister Saadi Chami told The Associated Press.
“The government does not have the financial resources for reconstruction,” he said bluntly.
The World Bank said 99,209 housing units were damaged — and 18% of them were completely destroyed. In southern Beirut suburbs alone, satellite analysis by Lebanon’s National Center for Natural Hazards and Early Warning identified 353 buildings completely destroyed and over 6,000 homes damaged.
Lebanese officials have appealed to the international community for funding. The government is working with the World Bank to get an updated damage assessment and hopes to set up a multi-donor trust fund.
The World Bank is also exploring an “emergency project for Lebanon,” focused on targeted assistance for areas most in need, Chami said, though no concrete plan has yet emerged.
“If the World Bank gets involved, it will hopefully encourage the international community to donate money,” Chami said.
Ali Daamoush, a Hezbollah official, said earlier this month that the group has mobilized 145 reconstruction teams, which include 1,250 engineers, 300 data analysts and hundreds of auditors — many apparently volunteers.
The compensations paid so far have come from “the Iranian people,” Daamoush said, without specifying if the money was from Iran's government or private donors.
Jana, a 29-year-old architect, is volunteering with Hezbollah teams to survey the damage to her hometown of Nabatiyeh in southern Lebanon. Much of the city is destroyed, including an Ottoman-era market. Her father’s warehouse was hit by airstrikes, and all the medical supplies stored there were consumed by a fire.
Hezbollah officials "told us not to promise people or discuss reconstruction because there is no clear plan or funding for it yet,” she told the AP. She did not give her last name because she wasn't authorized to talk about Hezbollah's actions.