Reports: Bassil Meets Safa, ‘FPM-Hizbullah Alliance Ongoing’

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil has reportedly met with Hizbullah coordination official Wafiq Safa in the past few days.

Well informed sources told ad-Diyar newspaper, in remarks published Monday, that the two officials have met for “open and frank” talks and discussed the recent “crisis” that occurred between the two parties after the Constitutional Council failed to issue a ruling on the appeal against the electoral law’s amendments.

The results of the meeting were “positive,” according to the sources.

Bassil and Safa discussed what has been said about “a deal that failed at the last minute,” the sources said, adding that “had the bargain succeeded, the FPM would have benefited from it” while it would have “come at a high cost” for Prime Minister Najib Miqati.

The sources said that the discrepancies between the FPM and Hizbullah have been clarified and that the two parties have both affirmed the continuation of their alliance, meetings and regular communication.

Bassil last week blamed Hizbullah and Amal for the Constitutional Council’s no-ruling, saying it is a result of a "new four-party alliance" in the face of the FPM.

President Michel Aoun is scheduled to make a televised address today, Monday.

Aoun will voice “explosive” remarks and will tackle all the obstacles that marred his tenure by both “allies and rivals” and will “call things by their name,” Baabda Palace sources told al-Anbaa newspaper in remarks published Sunday.

Bassil is also scheduled to have a speech on January 2.