March 8 Alliance Finished but Hizbullah Seeks to Restore Berri-Aoun Ties
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
More Free Patriotic Movement officials confirmed on Thursday their rift with the rest of the March 8 alliance's parties despite alleged efforts by Hizbullah to bridge the gap between Speaker Nabih Berri and FPM leader Michel Aoun.
In remarks to As Safir daily, Caretaker Energy Minister Jebran Bassil, who is an FPM official, reiterated that his party was no longer part of the March 8 coalition that includes Hizbullah and Berri's Amal movement.
He said he informed Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam more than 45 days ago that he shouldn't consider the FPM and the other parties a single team.
“Political lineups have been shattered,” he said. “Neither March 8 nor March 14 have stayed the way they are.”
The new developments should facilitate the formation of the government, he added.
Change and Reform bloc MP Ibrahim Kanaan, who is also an FPM official, echoed similar remarks. “We have never been part of March 8 so that we separate ourselves from it,” he told al-Joumhouria newspaper.
“The differences with this camp are the focus of discussions to assess the next stage and learn lessons from them,” he said.
Kanaan stressed that each party has its own weight in negotiating for shares in the new cabinet.
Despite the remarks of Bassil and Kanaan, Hizbullah sources told al-Joumhouria that the party would exert efforts to restore the ties between Aoun and Berri, who has also stressed the March 8 alliance no longer exists.
Differences between the FPM on one hand and Hizbullah and Amal began emerging late May over the extension of parliament’s term, which Aoun opposed, and more recently over the extension of Army chief Gen. Jean Qahwaji's mandate.
Berri has put the extension on the agenda of a parliamentary session in addition to around 44 other draft-laws. But Aoun's Change and Reform bloc that opposes the extension rejects to attend it.
The speaker told several local dailies this week that he agreed with Aoun on strategic issues such as the resistance but not on local affairs.
11 July 2013, 09:08
39
Wow so Flamethrower and his alternate accounts will no longer be a mouthpiece for HA. Perhaps we will finally have the opportunity for him to posit some time of platform other than being pro HA and anti March 14
11 July 2013, 11:13
111
Ft, don't be too harsh on the dude, you're asking him the impossible.
greatpierro: what is "meanless" (sic) is your post. are you drunk so early?
11 July 2013, 11:28
102
oh btw FT, I did it!!! check this out!
http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/89884-53-wounded-in-car-bombing-at-parking-lot-in-dahieh-s-bir-al-abed
woooohooooo! ;)
11 July 2013, 12:28
103
Now that's one heck of a tour-de-force, Mowaten, mabrouk. You and I don't agree on many things politically but I do value your opinion and FTs. On a related subject, I see that both you and FT have been banned on account of the underscores in your handles. People are baiting you guys the whole time to get you banned. Don't take the bait. We must get used to the fact that in a democracy, people can't agree on everything.
The other day, somebody posted that he wished FT got killed in the Bir el Abd bombing. That poster was never banned. Very nice, Naharnet. Very nice.
11 July 2013, 12:53
101
thanks jabal, and although i dont really mind the censorship (i created this new account and will keep on expressing myself) i must say it is indeed shocking that daily curses and provocations from one end are never sanctioned, yet one vulgar comment was enough for my account to be closed down, deleting all the comments i posted over the years
11 July 2013, 21:50
00
Last election results: March 14, 55% of the seats for 45% of the votes, March 8, 45% of the seats for 55% of the votes. Can we see now that dissolving these two blocs will leave Shia dominance, according to its actual numbers, the only remaining course open to Lebanon?
If so, this is the time to make a deal with all Lebanese: one person, one vote, civil rights for all, warlords all go away.
12 July 2013, 03:20
00
Why are you, Baath, and undemocratic Arabs are so fascinated by the word "Dominance"?
A Democratic mind understands that winning election or being majority does not entitle you to serve only your people and execute only your agenda. Rather it is a responsibility to lead the Lebanese ship to fairness, liberty and justice for ALL.
11 July 2013, 15:24
26
m14 was never about leaders.
m14 is and will always be the silent majority voice.
if some MPs decided to follow the people, the people do not follow blindly those leaders.
and that my friend is a major difference.
while m8 can disappear when their leaders disagree, m14 will never disappear.
11 July 2013, 17:06
14
that is where your mind cannot comprehend :)
the support of m14 to the leadership is diminished nowadays, but m14 is stronger than ever.
if you can comprehend this, then it is good, otherwise, whatever I say to explain it to you will fail :)
11 July 2013, 17:07
14
and by the way, this joke about aoun getting out of m8: nobody buys that :)
11 July 2013, 18:40
30
"m14 was never about leaders"
HAHAHAHHA yea right, you dont have a sick cult around "sons of" and blind following of "dynasties"
12 July 2013, 03:22
00
ft., if you compare recent M-14 gatherings with those of past years you will easily determine that half of them are assassinated and few of them are abroad to escape similar fate. Thanks for the Democratic arms of the resistance and its surrogates.
11 July 2013, 09:43
210
“We have never been part of March 8 so that we separate ourselves from it,” Ibram Kanaan. LOL, is he for real ?
11 July 2013, 11:13
28
You mean that FPM is finally realizing that this alliance is against the interest if Christians and Lebanese. This is what we have been saying long ago.
11 July 2013, 11:32
17
Dear FT, i won't go into a debate with you as first i am only half-Lebanese, so i am half interested by the politics and who is better Aoun or Geagea. But when i used to live in Beirut, it was the FPM who did their sit-in in the downtown, it was General Aoun who raised his hands up high in the 8 march rally and the FPM also blocked the roads and burnt tires, this means to me they were all this time 8 march to the full extent. I am not again, an expert nor do i care about the politics view, my mother is not Lebanese and i am not even living in Lebanon anymore. But hearing this MP claiming they were never "8 march" is little insulting to my half-Lebanese brain, and i am sure lots of people are (Maybe not to you, but many will be).
Note: kindly don't start a debate regarding that the LF did worse, or Geagea is a crook... I really don't care. it is just that this specific stand from this specific MP is ridiculous and absurd.
12 July 2013, 03:26
00
Not necessarily greatpierro. It could mean that Asiri made him an offer he could not refuse. Or it could mean that Iran no longer needs his services as a Christian cover for HA. Or it could mean that he is too stubborn and direct to work well with the fox Berri.
11 July 2013, 13:05
37
Ya 3omala ya tayyar waya 3awniyyin 8snin bita3amekon ma3 hasan afandi wa bashar lerhabi 3amalto l3ameyel bi lebnen yaman ba77a aswatihi wahowa yodafi3o kezban 3an ljayshel lebnaniy yodafi3a 3ohran wayodafi3o 3an katel atayar 3an allazi kana yo7awel egtiyal botros hareb ya ayyo halmonafikin kafakon dajal 3ala nas kafakon kazib 3ala anfosikom ya3aybeshum 3alaykom ya7ayef 3arrijal attarikho lan yarhamokom
12 July 2013, 05:56
00
But this is a bit shady... Hizballah n Amal want 6 seats, and aoun said he wants 6. That makes 12. and If you count the 2 seats for marada, 2 for tashnag, and 1 for Lebanese Democratic Party... It makes 17.
17 out of 30 is an automatic majority. Even if they gave up one seat, they would still have their +1... And even if they gave up two... They would have a blocking 15 vs 15.
