Mustaqbal Denies Hariri Has Called Bassil Asking for Pacification
Al-Mustaqbal Movement sources have denied a report claiming that Prime Minister Saad Hariri had held phone talks Sunday with Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Jebran Bassil and told him that he is keen on the presidential settlement.
Al-Akhbar newspaper reported Monday that Hariri told Bassil that he “will not personally engage in the responses campaign that is being led by al-Mustaqbal Movement's hawks and its media outlets.” The premier meanwhile asked Bassil to “pacify the rhetoric from his end,” al-Akhbar said.
But a senior Mustaqbal source later told LBCI television that Hariri "has not called Bassil."
"They have not communicated since the end of the draft state budget debate but this does not mean that things are headed for an escalation," the source said.
Hariri's Future TV for its part reported that the premier "has not called Bassil, contrary to what al-Akhbar newspaper has said."
Sources informed on Bassil's stance meanwhile told al-Akhbar that the FPM chief is also “clinging to the presidential settlement.”
“He understands the reasons behind the campaign against him,” the sources added, noting that those leading the campaign are “harmed by the relation with Hariri and are trying to embarrass the prime minister.”
“The sides behind the campaign against Bassil are first the opposition inside al-Mustaqbal Movement: ex-minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq, ex-PM Fouad Saniora and Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi. These sides take advantage of any chance to pounce on Hariri and depict him as weak,” the sources said.
The second group, according to the sources, is “the militias that have not yet come out of the war: the Lebanese Forces and the Progressive Socialist Party.”
A fierce FPM-Mustaqbal war of words has been raging for several days now over remarks attributed to Bassil in some media reports.
Bassil has distanced himself from the remarks and launched an acrimonious response against his critics, describing them as “mad lunatics.”
The Military Court's controversial ruling in the Hajj-Itani-Ghabash case has also contributed to the standoff between the two parties.
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