Mustaqbal Officials Hit Out at Aoun and Bassil

Al-Mustaqbal Movement official ex-MP Mustafa Alloush on Wednesday lamented that “all the attempts to protect the Presidency from the pettiness of the son-in-law have failed,” in a jab at Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil, who is President Michel Aoun’s son-in-law.

“All what we hope for today on Christmas Day is mercy for Lebanon in the face of the maliciousness of the devil and his greed for swallowing everything and depriving the Lebanese of welfare and hope,” Alloush tweeted.

Al-Mustaqbal bloc MP Mohammed al-Hajjar for his part decried that “it is sad that President Michel Aoun sees only one person in the country: caretaker Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil.”

“He considers that the rules of the Constitution and the Lebanese political life revolve around him,” Hajjar added.

“It is strange that the Presidency has said that it waited for caretaker PM Saad Hariri for 100 days (to take a decision on whether or not to lead the new government), seeing as the country was awaiting the Presidency to resolve Jebran’s obstacle and his insistence on a techno-political government,” Hajjar went on to say.

Earlier in the day, Aoun had lashed out at Hariri and defended Bassil.

“Let’s suppose that Jebran Bassil is the one forming the government, doesn’t he have the right to do so? Isn’t he an MP and the head of the biggest bloc? But no, in fact it is not him who is forming it. Those who are supposed to form it are forming it,” Aoun said.

“We waited for Saad Hariri for 100 days without managing to resolve the crisis. He was hesitant. This is not how we form a government,” Aoun added.

Told that Hariri has said that the Presidency is acting “as if nothing has happened in the country,” in reference to the economic crisis and the Oct. 17 popular revolt, Aoun answered: “Does he want to envy me for my calm which preserved calm in the country or for my foolishness which made me act in a bad way?”

The president’s remarks carried a veiled jab at Hariri for resigning amid the popular protests that have swept the country.