Lebanon Free Patriotic Movement calls to review alliance with Hezbollah

Lebanese Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) led by Gebran Bassil on Saturday called to review the alliance agreement with Hezbollah, known as the Mar Mikhael Understanding, saying the pact has not succeeded in building the Lebanese state 15 years after it was signed, the movement’s political council said in a statement.

The FPM’s political council said in a statement following its regular meeting on Saturday that the Mar Mikhael Understanding with Hezbollah has saved Lebanon from the evils of sedition and division and protected it from outside attacks, deterred Israel, and repelled terrorism, but it has not succeeded in building the state and the rule of law.

For his part, a member of the Loyalty to the Resistance parliamentary bloc representing Hezbollah, MP Ali Fayyad, stressed: “The severe complications that had struck the Lebanese arena politically and economically and the disruption of the regional environment over the past years and their negative effects on Lebanon have weakened the agreement’s positive effects.”

“The biggest challenge facing the two parties to the agreement is building a state of institutions, law and combating corruption,” which constitute the basis of the agreement, he added.

On 6 February 2006, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and FPM leader at the time, Lebanese President Michel Aoun, signed a memorandum of understanding at Mar Mikhael Church in Beirut that established an alliance between the parties.

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