Aoun’s FPM Acknowledges its Failure to Build State, Fight Corruption in Lebanon

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah (L) with Michel Aoun during a news conference in a church in Beirut, Lebanon February 6, 2006. (Reuters)
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah (L) with Michel Aoun during a news conference in a church in Beirut, Lebanon February 6, 2006. (Reuters)
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Aoun’s FPM Acknowledges its Failure to Build State, Fight Corruption in Lebanon

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah (L) with Michel Aoun during a news conference in a church in Beirut, Lebanon February 6, 2006. (Reuters)
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah (L) with Michel Aoun during a news conference in a church in Beirut, Lebanon February 6, 2006. (Reuters)

The Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) in Lebanon acknowledged the failure of its project to build a state and fight corruption.

It made the declaration on the 15th anniversary of its signing of an understanding with Hezbollah that led to the election of FPM founder Michel Aoun as president in 2016

Differences between the FPM, which is now headed by Aoun’s son-in-law Gebran Bassil, and the Iran-backed Hezbollah are nothing new. Supporters of either camp have often expressed their criticism on social media, with even FPM MPs and officials joining in.

Such criticism mounted after the United State slapped sanctions last year on Bassil over his ties to Hezbollah and involvement in corruption.

In a statement on Saturday, the FPM political council said the understanding with Hezbollah “helped ward off strife and division in Lebanon and protect it against foreign aggression” from Israel and terrorist groups.

The understanding, however, “did not succeed in building a state and establishing the rule of law,” it continued.

“Developing the understanding in a way that brings new hope to the Lebanese people is a condition for its survival. The understanding will be void if the signatories do not succeed in the battle to build a state,” it remarked.

FPM MP George Atallah said the statement echoes remarks Bassil had made about a month ago. Similar remarks were also made by Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah.

Atallah told Asharq Al-Awsat: “The understanding yielded many results, but Hezbollah could not join us in state-building affairs and approving laws on combating corruption.”

He attributed this to the party’s alliance to its fellow Shiite Amal movement.

Fighting corruption and the building of a state are as important to the FPM as the resistance against Israel, said the MP. He revealed that Bassil and Nasrallah had twice met in the past three months to discuss pending issues and concerns.

On whether unfulfilled objectives can be met in the future, he said: “The conviction is there, but the problem lies in the application.”

The MP refused to link any revision of the understanding to the American sanctions on Bassil, while also dismissing claims that the agreement was on the verge of failure.

“We are seeking to improve, develop and even expand it to include other parties,” he revealed.

Hezbollah MP Walid Sukkarieh said the problem between the party and FPM lies elsewhere, specifically in sectarian representation and fears over Christian rights.

He told Asharq Al-Awsat: “The situation in Lebanon may have prevented the implementation of some issues, but the two camps are fully aligned over the vision of building a state based on national unity.”

Differences between them will not lead to the failure of the understanding, he said, suggesting instead that it could be developed.

The FPM, he explained, is concerned about the fair representation of sects in public positions. The Taif Accord limits this representation to the positions of president, prime minister and parliament speaker, while the movement is seeking to apply it to all public posts given that Muslims outnumber Christians.

The FPM fears that the imbalance may later infringe on equality.



Gaza Doctors Cram Babies into Incubators as Fuel Shortage Threatens Hospitals

Smoke rises in Gaza after an explosion, as seen from the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza border, July 7, 2025. REUTERS/Amir Cohen
Smoke rises in Gaza after an explosion, as seen from the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza border, July 7, 2025. REUTERS/Amir Cohen
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Gaza Doctors Cram Babies into Incubators as Fuel Shortage Threatens Hospitals

Smoke rises in Gaza after an explosion, as seen from the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza border, July 7, 2025. REUTERS/Amir Cohen
Smoke rises in Gaza after an explosion, as seen from the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza border, July 7, 2025. REUTERS/Amir Cohen

At Gaza's largest hospital, doctors say crippling fuel shortages have led them to put several premature babies in a single incubator as they struggle to keep the newborns alive while Israel presses on with its military campaign.

Overwhelmed medics say the dwindling fuel supplies threaten to plunge them into darkness and paralyze hospitals and clinics in the Palestinian territory, where health services have been pummeled during 21 months of war.

While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the fate of Israeli hostages in Gaza with US President Donald Trump in Washington this week, patients at Al Shifa medical center in Gaza City faced imminent danger, doctors there said.

"We are forced to place four, five, or sometimes three premature babies in one incubator," said Dr. Mohammed Abu Selmia, Al Shifa's director.

"Premature babies are now in a very critical condition."

The threat comes from "neither an airstrike nor a missile — but a siege choking the entry of fuel," Dr. Muneer Alboursh, director general of the Gaza Ministry of Health, told Reuters.

The shortage is "depriving these vulnerable people of their basic right to medical care, turning the hospital into a silent graveyard," he said.

Gaza, a tiny strip of land with a population of more than 2 million, was under a long, Israeli-led blockade before the war between Israel and Palestinian group Hamas erupted.

Palestinians and medical workers have accused the Israeli military of attacking hospitals, allegations it rejects.

Israel accuses Hamas of operating from medical facilities and running command centers underneath them, which Hamas denies.

Patients in need of medical care, food and water are paying the price.

There have been more than 600 attacks on health facilities since the conflict began, the WHO says, without attributing blame. It has described the health sector in Gaza as being "on its knees", with shortages of fuel, medical supplies and frequent arrivals of mass casualties.

Just half of Gaza's 36 general hospitals are partially functioning, according to the UN agency.

Abu Selmia warned of a humanitarian catastrophe and accused Israel of "trickle-feeding" fuel to Gaza's hospitals.

COGAT, the Israeli military aid coordination agency, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about fuel shortages at Gaza's medical facilities and the risk to patients.

OXYGEN RISK

Abu Selmia said Al Shifa's dialysis department had been shut down to protect the intensive care unit and operating rooms, which can't be without electricity for even a few minutes.

There are around 100 premature babies in Gaza City hospitals whose lives are at serious risk, he said. Before the war, there were 110 incubators in northern Gaza compared to about 40 now, said Abu Selmia.

"Oxygen stations will stop working. A hospital without oxygen is no longer a hospital. The lab and blood banks will shut down, and the blood units in the refrigerators will spoil," Abu Selmia said, adding that the hospital could become "a graveyard for those inside".

Officials at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis are also wondering how they will cope with the fuel crisis. The hospital needs 4,500 liters of fuel per day and it now has only 3,000 liters, said hospital spokesperson Mohammed Sakr.

Doctors are performing surgeries without electricity or air conditioning. The sweat from staff is dripping into patients' wounds, he said.

Earlier this year, Israel imposed a total blockade on Gaza for nearly three months, before partly lifting it. Israel accuses Hamas of diverting aid, something Hamas denies.

"You can have the best hospital staff on the planet, but if they are denied the medicines and the pain killers and now the very means for a hospital to have light ... it becomes an impossibility," said James Elder, a spokesperson for UN children's agency UNICEF, recently returned from Gaza.

The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered in October 2023, when Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Gaza's health ministry says Israel's response has killed over 57,000 Palestinians. It has also caused a hunger crisis, internally displaced almost all Gaza's population and prompted accusations of genocide and war crimes, which Israel denies.