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Beirut – Omar Habanjar
What has been said has been said about the United States sanctions against the leader of the Free Patriotic Movement, Representative Gebran Bassil, but what Bassil will say in his statement that he will read to journalists is maintained, without giving way to questions and answers at noon.
The available data indicates that Bassil will lift the cross, and will not be satisfied with carrying it, as he said in his first tweet, seeking to fan sectarian instincts as the best defense against US sanctions, in addition to focusing on the offer that he leaked to the media, attributed to the US ambassador to Beirut, Doroty Shea. And in which he asked him to declare the rupture of his relationship with Hezbollah and condemn the role of the party in Syria and Yemen, in addition to providing guarantees that a prompt liquidation of the file of demarcation of the southern border will be reached after the recognition of the separation of the land demarcation from the maritime demarcation and not taking into account the demands that impose an identical quota to that approved within the so-called “line”. Hove ‘in exchange for American guarantees to protect his political future. Bassil will challenge the United States Treasury to prove its corruption, and this is what President Michel Aoun also demanded through the Lebanese Embassy in Washington, and he was the one who launched the challenge, in a television interview with the journalist Ricardo Karam “before anyone who can prove corruption against any of his relatives.”
The Presidency of the Lebanese Republic stated, in a statement, that Aoun had instructed the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Charbel Wahba, to make the necessary contacts with the United States embassy in Beirut and the Lebanese embassy in Washington, to obtain evidence and documents that led the United States Treasury to press charges and impose sanctions against “Basil.”
It added that the President had ordered that this evidence be delivered to the Lebanese Judicial Power once obtained, so that it could take the necessary legal measures, and that it would directly follow up on the case, giving rise to the necessary trials in the event that it was available. facts about these accusations.
Former Minister May Chidiac said in a televised interview: “As Lebanese forces, we were monitoring corruption, but it appears that the US administration was able to document it, and Chidiac was not surprised by Bassil’s focus on Christian rights once again.
In the opinion of diplomatic sources, the Magnitsky Corruption Act, on which the US Treasury sanctions were based, instead of linking them to the relationship with Hezbollah, deprives the new US administration of the possibility of lifting the sanctions, without a long path judicial.
Follow-up Lebanese sources noted that Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and the head of the Marada Movement preferred to remain silent after the issuance of US sanctions under the Caesar Law against the two ministers, Ali Khalil (Amal) and Yusef Fenianos (Marada). , and the wave of sanctions passed without spreading or leaving a trace, and it was wrong. Sources asked President Aoun for evidence from Washington in defense of his son-in-law, while no such issue was raised when sanctions were issued against the Hebron and Fenian ministers.
President Aoun had called French President Emmanuel Macron to demand that he activate the French initiative.
The French president responded, stressing “the urgent need to put Lebanon on the path of reforms and quickly form a government,” according to a statement from the French presidency, in which he affirmed France’s position with the Lebanese people.
The French statement said the reforms “are a condition for the international community to fully mobilize its efforts to keep pace with the rise of Lebanon.”
US Undersecretary of State David Schenker told Lebanese channel LBC that the sanctions will target Gebran Bassil’s financial resources and bank accounts. He noted that these sanctions show how the United States has been damaging Basil’s corruption in recent years, in addition to its relationship with Hezbollah, which allowed corruption. And in the event of a change in the American administration, (as is now expected) Schenker said that American policies are characterized by continuity.
The Free Patriotic Movement and Hezbollah condemned the US sanctions as purely political and an interference in Lebanese internal affairs. Hezbollah expressed its solidarity with Basil in facing these unfair decisions and rejected the fabrications.
Yesterday, the political body of the Free Patriotic Movement issued a statement in which it considered the United States sanctions as a clear slander, and to use a US law to take revenge on a political leader for his refusal to submit to what contradicts his convictions and options. policies, declaring their solidarity with the movement’s leader, Gebran Bassil, as he represents and represents.
Regarding the formation of the Hariri government, follow-up sources expected that the accountant for the formation of the government would stop, unlike the Corona accountant, due to the US sanctions on Bassil, noting that the government structure was not prepared, due to known US and regional considerations, as well as the need to assess the situation after the US sanctions included all four parties in power. Hezbollah, Amal, Marada and the Free Patriotic Movement.
In addition, the Free Patriotic Movement organized a symbolic movement in cars, in compliance with the measures to prevent Corona and not give up raising the voice of its national affairs at the same time, and more than 250 cars were parked in a parking lot in Baabda, and posters with slogans demanding the need to proceed with the criminal audit. Because it is a fundamental step on the road to reform, and removing the obstacles created by corrupt people who fear the truth that exposes and exposes them.
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