Bassil, Hezbollah Hold ‘Frank’ Meeting, Underscore Alliance

Bassil and the Hezbollah delegation meet on Monday. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Bassil and the Hezbollah delegation meet on Monday. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Bassil, Hezbollah Hold ‘Frank’ Meeting, Underscore Alliance

Bassil and the Hezbollah delegation meet on Monday. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Bassil and the Hezbollah delegation meet on Monday. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Head of Lebanon’s Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) MP Gebran Bassil and a Hezbollah delegation met on Monday to ease political tensions that had strained their alliance.

The two sides have differed over the election of a new president and holding government meetings in wake of the vacuum in the presidency.

Bassil welcomed the Hezbollah delegation, which included political advisor to the party's Secretary General Hussein Al-Khalil and the party’s coordination and liaison officer Wafiq Safa, at the FPM’s headquarters on the outskirts of Beirut.

Khalil described the meeting as “frank and rich”, stressing that the Mar Mikhael agreement, which cemented the alliance between the FPM and Hezbollah, still stands.

He said the officials discussed several issues, including the presidency and government sessions, adding that they will hold more meetings in the future.

He declined to provide further details.

He added, however, that the alliance still stands even if disagreements may arise.

Disputes are only “normal,” he stated. “We are not a single party, but two, and so, we approach matters from different perspectives, but we always work on common ground.”

The disputes between the FPM and Hezbollah emerged in wake of Bassil’s rejection of the party’s backing of Marada Movement leader Suleiman Franjieh’s run for president.

The FPM has also objected to the caretaker government holding meetings in light of the vacuum in the presidency. It has criticized Hezbollah for allowing its ministers to join the meetings.

The FPM believes that a caretaker government cannot legally hold a meeting while vacuum persists in the presidency.



Israel Kills 40 Palestinians in Gaza

Palestinians inspect the damage at the site of an Israeli strike on the Al-Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City, on July 9, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
Palestinians inspect the damage at the site of an Israeli strike on the Al-Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City, on July 9, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
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Israel Kills 40 Palestinians in Gaza

Palestinians inspect the damage at the site of an Israeli strike on the Al-Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City, on July 9, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
Palestinians inspect the damage at the site of an Israeli strike on the Al-Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City, on July 9, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

At least 40 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, hospital officials said Wednesday.

Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis said the dead included 17 women and 10 children. It said one strike killed 10 people from the same family, including three children.

The Israeli military did not comment on specific strikes, but said it had struck more than 100 targets across Gaza over the past day, including militants, booby-trapped structures, weapons storage facilities, missile launchers and tunnels.

The war started after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage. Most of the hostages have been released in earlier ceasefires.

Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.