Report: Hizbullah Contacts Bassil to Calm Rhetoric

Hizbullah intensified its contacts with its ally, head of the Free Patriotic Movement MP Jebran Bassil, in a bid to ease a worsening tension after Bassil’s latest remarks that further complicated the cabinet formation efforts, the Saudi Asharq el-Awsat newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The daily said Hizbullah wants to “calm the atmosphere,” and to find a solution for the government impasse through Speaker Nabih Berri’s initiative.

According to unnamed FPM sources, contacts between Bassil and Hizbullah, through its top official Wafiq Safa, have been ongoing since Bassil’s Sunday speech.

They said the contacts seek "to clarify the positions of the two parties, in addition to searching for a new way out of the government's crisis within the framework of Berri’s initiative."

They also seek to calm the atmosphere "after the strong positions" Bassil made last week.

Akhbar el-Yawn news agency said the two men are likely to meet “soon” to discuss the message conveyed by Bassil to Hizbullah through his speech.

Pro-Hizbullah al-Akhbar newspaper on Wednesday said the two men held talks in the evening on Tuesday.

Bassil on Sunday said Berri has not been an “impartial” mediator in the cabinet formation process, urging Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah to step in as a “friend” and “referee.”

“Hizbullah has been able to calm the atmosphere between Berri and Bassil,” said the Agency.

Berri’s proposal, was largely rejected by founder of the FPM President Michel Aoun last week, is the only one on the table at present, it said.

Sources close to the Speaker assure that his initiative “still stands” as long as there are no alternatives, pointing that it gains the consent of the “majority of Lebanese parties” and the international community.

Berri’s initiative suggests a 24-minister line-up based on the 8+8+8 formula which Bassil and his father-in-law, Aoun, strongly reject.