FPM, PSP Hold 'Very Positive Meeting' after War of Words

Senior officials from the Free Patriotic Movement and the Progressive Socialist Party held a meeting Monday in the Mount Lebanon region and stressed “the importance of preserving civil peace,” a joint statement said.

“The meeting's atmosphere was very positive and the conferees stressed the importance of preserving the civil peace climate which characterizes the Mt. Lebanon region in general,” the statement said.

“The difference in opinion should remain purely political, away from polarization and tensions at the level of the two parties' bases and supporters,” it added.

The two parties also agree to intensify their meetings and communication.

The development follows a war of words between the leaders and officials of the two parties that spread to supporters on social networking websites.

The FPM and the PSP have been trading jabs in recent months against the backdrop of the stalled Cabinet formation process, with PSP chief Walid Jumblat demanding all three Druze seats in the government for his party amid the rejection of the FPM and its leader MP Jebran Bassil.

The confrontation escalated further after FPM-backed officials sacked the employee Nizar Hani from the Environment Ministry and the employee Raja al-Ali from Electricite Du Liban in response to caretaker Minister Marwan Hamadeh's firing of Hilda Khoury from the Education Ministry.

Jumblat has also slammed President Michel Aoun's tenure as a failure and the “tenure of thugs” while describing Bassil as “the Jared Kushner of Lebanon,” drawing violent responses from FPM ministers and supporters.

PSP supporters also launched anti-FPM hashtags on social media in support of their party.