Lebanon: Hezbollah Sets Stage for Post-election Phase

  • 6/5/2018
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Following Lebanon’s parliamentary elections last month, Hezbollah has sought to re-attract to its camp several allies the Shiite party had lost during the electoral battle when it only allied with the Amal Movement against a number of political parties across the country. The first signs of the new plan appeared when Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah sat down with Free Patriotic Movement leader Gebran Bassil last Friday and when both head of coordination in Hezbollah, Hajj Wafiq Safa and Nasrallah’s political aid Hussein Khalil met with Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt on Sunday. Sources close to the party placed those meetings in the framework of “assessing the results of the elections, particularly that the last battle left wounds that need to be healed.” The sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that, “what currently happens is an attempt to sort out the current mess ahead of kicking off the post-government lineup phase.” According to the same sources, following the Nasrallah-Bassil and the Jumblatt-Khalil-Safa meetings, there would be two separate meetings between the party and MP Talal Arslan and head of the Marada Suleiman Franjieh. “Khalil was lately handed the file of Hezbollah’s relationship with a number of figures and forces, particularly Jumblatt, Arslan and Franjieh,” the sources added. A statement issued Sunday by the FPM Media Bureau said the Nasrallah-Bassil meeting focused on "setting a preliminary plan to combat corruption and adopt a common mechanism afterwards.” The Jumblatt-Safa-Khalil meeting focused on economic issues and the need to combat corruption, PSP spokesman Rami al-Rayyes told Asharq Al-Awsat. Speaking to the PSP-linked Al Anbaa website, sources denied that talks between the three men had tackled the issue of the next government lineup. The sources spoke about a “positive mood that reflected the two sides’ keenness on enhancing joint relations at the political internal level.”

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