Bassil Calls for 'Liberating State Institutions from Civilian Militias'

Free Patriotic Movement chief and Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil on Wednesday called for “liberating the state” from what he described as “civilian militias.”

“Lebanon was liberated from Israeli occupation in 2000 and from Syrian tutelage in 2005. Israel was defeated in the July 2006 war and terrorism was ousted in August 2017. This is the core of the agreement between us and Hizbullah: Lebanon's protection and strength,” Bassil said in a speech during the FPM's annual dinner.

“The battle has become harder now, because it is about liberating state institutions from 'civilian militias.' During war, we were in a confrontation against parties wearing military fatigues but today they are wearing civilian suits and ties,” Bassil noted.

Referring to the election of FPM founder Michel Aoun as Lebanon's President, Bassil added: “Sixteen months have passed and they have been more difficult, because once again, we are alone in the confrontation against the mafia and because our responsibilities and people's expectations have become bigger and broader.”

“We won't stop until we liberate citizens from humiliation and subordination and until we liberate state institutions from corruption and militias,” the FPM chief vowed.

He noted that “the FPM is a project” and its project is to “build the state.”

The state is “our only choice and authority. Our state is neither the statelets of militias during wartime nor the feudal fiefdoms during peace time,” Bassil added.

He stressed that Lebanon is “not a country for foreign tutelage.”

“It not a country for displacement or refugees. Lebanon is for the Lebanese. This is not racism but rather Lebanese patriotism,” Bassil underlined.

He also called for “a strong army that protects sovereignty and independence and an independent foreign policy in the service of the republic, not in the service of foreign powers.”