A verbal attack launched by the head of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), MP Gebran Bassil, against Amal Movement and the Lebanese Forces complicated the efforts made by Maronite Patriarch Beshara Al-Rai towards finding a legal solution to the government crisis.
Bassil lashed out at Amal, headed by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, and Samir Geagea’s Lebanese Forces, without naming them, saying in a tweet: “When I talked about the complicity of the duo of Tayouneh, everyone objected. We saw this complicity in the street over the blood of the people, and in the parliament over the election law and the rights of the expatriates.”
“We will soon witness this complicity in the parliament and over the bodies of the victims of the port explosion and Tayouneh events,” Bassil concluded his tweet by saying: “We reject hiding the truth of the biggest explosion that Lebanon and the world witnessed in return for securing the innocence of the criminals.”
Prime Minister Najib Mikati has not convened a cabinet meeting since Oct. 12, pending a solution to a standoff over an investigation into last year’s Beirut port explosion that has paralyzed the government for over two weeks.
Rai on Tuesday said the country’s three top politicians agreed to a “solution” to political tensions and government paralysis.
The initiative, which seeks to address the issue constitutionally, requires that the Parliament regain its role by trying the former ministers, who were accused by the judicial investigator in the port explosion, before the Supreme Council for the Trial of Presidents and Ministers.
Sources from the Shiite duo, represented by Hezbollah and Amal, said that Bassil’s remarks obstructed Rai’s initiative.
“The goal of all your tweets is to overthrow the consensus that was established between the presidents and His Beatitude the Patriarch, and to bring the country to havoc,” Amal MP Ali Bazzi, said in a tweet addressed to Bassil.
Judge Tarek Bitar has sought to question top officials including former ministers affiliated with Berri’s Amal movement and the Marada Movement, both key allies of Iran-backed Hezbollah, which has responded with a smear campaign accusing Bitar of politicizing the port blast probe.
The row spilt over into the cabinet when ministers allied to those parties called for Bitar’s removal in a heated discussion during the last session.
Prior to Bassil’s statement, Mikati expressed hope that Rai’s initiative would see light and lead to a solution for the government deadlock. His remarks came following a visit to Aoun on Wednesday at the Baabda Palace.
“The President and I are keen that we all return to the cabinet table… to find the required solutions, but the most important thing today is to clear the atmosphere, and to correct the judicial path, in accordance with the laws in force and the provisions of the constitution,” Mikati stated.
