Lebanon: Purge Targets Bassil’s Rivals within FPM

Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) Leader Gebran Bassil (right) and former MP Mario Aoun (left) (AFP)
Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) Leader Gebran Bassil (right) and former MP Mario Aoun (left) (AFP)
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Lebanon: Purge Targets Bassil’s Rivals within FPM

Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) Leader Gebran Bassil (right) and former MP Mario Aoun (left) (AFP)
Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) Leader Gebran Bassil (right) and former MP Mario Aoun (left) (AFP)

Leadership ranks of Lebanon’s Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) have been shaken after its chief, Gebran Bassil, has apparently started an internal “purge” to clear out his opponents within the movement.

After reports on the FPM dismissing former lawmaker Ziad Aswad, ex-MP Mario Aoun announced his resignation from the movement and launched a direct attack on Bassil.

FPM sources opposed to Bassil told Asharq Al-Awsat that the movement's leader was testing the waters by expelling Aswad to see the reaction of the party base.

Sources revealed that a decision to expel Aswad, Aoun and several other leaders has already been issued.

“The cooks in the movement, including Bassil, planned to oust me,” Aoun said against the backdrop of tensions rising between Bassil and several FPM leaders after recent parliamentary elections.

Aoun was one of the most prominent FPM leaders.

Despite his distinction, Aoun was excluded from the FPM lists of candidates in the recent elections.

Aoun’s resignation has exposed internal strife within the FPM.

“No one thinks the page will turn that easily,” Aoun told Lebanon Debate.

Aoun said that he is voluntarily withdrawing from the media.

“I temporarily suspended my political career because the conditions were not appropriate in this situation,” he told the local news website.

Despite his differences with Bassil, Aoun denied that he was banned by the FPM.

He said that he did not want to run for the parliamentary elections in 2022, but he was challenged and undermined by people who monopolized the process in the movement.

The FPM’s Council of Elders has taken the decision to try Aoun, but he submitted his resignation beforehand in anticipation, sources said.

Nevertheless, Bassil has yet to accept Aoun’s resignation with sources hinting that the FPM leader is insisting that he faces trial by the Council of Elders.



Lebanese Red Cross Will Try Again to Remove Bodies from Israeli Strike Site

A picture taken from the area of Marjeyoun in southern Lebanon shows explosions over buildings in the town of Khiam, during Israeli bombardment on October 31, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)
A picture taken from the area of Marjeyoun in southern Lebanon shows explosions over buildings in the town of Khiam, during Israeli bombardment on October 31, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)
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Lebanese Red Cross Will Try Again to Remove Bodies from Israeli Strike Site

A picture taken from the area of Marjeyoun in southern Lebanon shows explosions over buildings in the town of Khiam, during Israeli bombardment on October 31, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)
A picture taken from the area of Marjeyoun in southern Lebanon shows explosions over buildings in the town of Khiam, during Israeli bombardment on October 31, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)

The Lebanese Red Cross will send another convoy Tuesday to Wata al-Khiam in southern Lebanon to search for and remove the bodies of 15 people killed in an Israeli airstrike, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said.

Paramedics accessed the site of the strike two days prior and removed five other bodies, but needed to return with larger vehicles to remove the rubble.

The NNA said the deployment is in coordination with the United Nations peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, which is the usual procedure.

The Red Cross did not immediately comment on the news, but expressed concern in recent weeks over several instances where Israel has struck in or close to areas where they have deployed paramedics to search for wounded people and casualties.

The Israeli military said it issued warnings to the residents there in late October to evacuate ahead of strikes on Hezbollah militant targets, and told ambulances to avoid the area.