Head of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP) in Lebanon, Rabih Banat, issued a decision on Thursday expelling his predecessor, former MP Asaad Hardan, from the party.
In 2021, disputes broke out between SSNP rival branches over the legitimacy of the party’s internal elections, which at the time led to the victory of Banat.
Hardan rejected the results, and the party became divided between the known “Hardan wing” and the “Banat wing.”
While the SSNP had previously dismissed Hardan, the party announced Thursday an irreversible decision to expel him. It also stripped Hardan of the status of Secretariat.
This came after supporters of the two rival SSNP branches engaged in armed clashes over the weekend in the areas of Beit Shabab and Beit Mery.
Reports said the clashes erupted after Hardan's supporters stormed into the party’s offices affiliated with Banat in Beit Shabab (Northern Metn). The army intervened and worked to calm the situation.
On Saturday, the SSNP said that “a party office under renovation has been the subject of two ransacking and invasion attempts by armed groups affiliated with a personality whose hands are stained with the blood of the innocent and the money of the State Treasury.”
The “Hardan wing” responded to the Banat wing statement, describing it as “a childish justification for criminal acts punishable by law.”
It also said that the decision has absolutely no value and is linked to the 2007 US economic sanctions imposed on Hardan.
In return, the Banat wing said it took the decision to expel Hardan from the party after the former MP rebelled against the SSNP and repeatedly committed constitutional and administrative violations.
