Bassil Says ‘Love and Revenge’ Kind of Relation with Hariri

Head of the Free Patriotic Movement MP Jebran Bassil described his relationship with PM-designate Saad Hariri as one of “love and revenge,” while on the other hand urging the judicial authority to pursue investigation into the port blast.

"It is a relationship of love and revenge. Love is on my side and revenge is on his side,” said Bassil in remarks to French newspaper L'Orient-Le Jour on Tuesday.

The MP urged Lebanon’s judiciary to pursue investigation into the Beirut port bombing until its final completion, criticizing attempts of some politicians to trigger political and sectarian tension in order to thwart the investigation.

Bassil expressed belief that “there is a kind of arbitrariness and discretion in the recent judicial allegations issued by Judge Fadi Sawan,” the lead investigator into the August 4 colossal explosion.

He said although he refuses violations against the premiership post--a seat reserved for a Sunni Muslim in the sectarian power-sharing system-- “but defending it should not go through sectarian mobilization.”

“I am confident that no responsibility lies on caretaker PM Hassan Diab and the same applies to the defendant ministers and to the Customs,” he stated, pointing to “scrutiny,” in the probe and “how names of some employees in the Customs have been surprisingly excluded.”

Regarding his position that the judicial investigator could request a hearing with President Michel Aoun, Bassil’s father-in-law, he said: “There are legal procedures and principles for this, but I do support that the President contact the judicial investigator and ask him to hear his testimony."