What will Hezbollah-Bassil meeting discuss?

A Hezbollah delegation comprising secretary-general’s aide Hussein Khalil and Coordination and Liaison Officer Wafiq Safa met Monday with Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil in Sin el-Fil's Mirna Chalouhi area, media reports said.

Hezbollah will try for a last time to convince Bassil with its presidential candidate al-Marada leader Suleiman Franjieh, al-Jadeed said, adding that Hezbollah had previously informed Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat that Franjieh is the only candidate trusted by Hezbollah.

Al-Akhbar newspaper ruled out that possibility. It said Monday that prominent sources have told it that the main goal of the meeting is an attempt to repair the relation between Hezbollah and the FPM, to try to prevent that the understanding turns into rivalry.

"Hezbollah chief Sayyed hassan Nasrallah has already told Bassil about Hezbollah's candidate, and Bassil's position on electing Franjieh is known," the sources said.

The meeting will rather be a beginning for settling the disagreement, according to the sources who went on to say that Nasrallah's hand is extended and that the meeting will discuss all the contentious files, including the presidential and the governmental files.

The FPM for its part welcomed the meeting initiative, al-Akhbar said.

"We do not want disagreement. Our hand is extended and our heart is open," prominent FPM sources told the daily.

But the sources added that what happened cannot be fixed only with a meeting but needs to be addressed and resolved.