Despite campaigns protesting against his visit to Tripoli, Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil toured the northern capital on Saturday, only one week after his visit to the Aley town of Qabrshmoun in Mount Lebanon ended up in an intra-Druze dispute that left two dead.
In a meeting with Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) partisans and supporters at the Rachid Karami International Fair, Bassil said he was threatened not to visit Tripoli during the weekend.
The FPM leader also indirectly lashed out at the Lebanese Forces by recalling the assassination of former Prime Minister Rachid Karami, which happened on June 1, 1987, after a bomb was detonated in his helicopter.
The LF quickly responded to Bassil’s statements, saying that his “senseless” discourse incites strife in the country.
“Do not let Bassil destroy the reconciliation,” the LF said, referring to the deal stroke between the two sides in Maarab before the election of President Michel Aoun two years ago.
For security reasons, Bassil deliberately changed the date of his visit to Tripoli from Sunday to Saturday without announcing it and he also canceled a lunch scheduled at the house of MP Faisal Karami.
Few people attended the gathering, forcing Bassil to wait for a long time before delivering his speech.
Some observers said the number of security personnel protecting the Foreign Minister was higher than those attending the gathering.
“We wouldn't accept that Lebanon be divided into cantons or restricted areas in the face of the Lebanese,” Bassil said during the meeting with FPM cadres.
He said: "Lebanese citizens will not be isolated in a region or a district. We have the right to opinion and freedom of expression, and I thank all those who gathered to protest my visit."
The Minister stressed that his visit to the Mountain last Sunday was not "to provoke any quarrel," noting that the FPM did not participate in any war and was always with the Lebanese army against the militias.
However, Mustaqbal Movement leader Mustafa Alloush told Asharq Al-Awsat that Bassil’s comments about Karami’s assassination ruin the Taef Accord.
“When residents of this city express their objection to the visit, he should respect this and not come,” Alloush said.
On Saturday, a few young people gathered at the Abdul Hamid Karami Square in a peaceful sit-in to protest the visit of Bassil to Tripoli, amidst heavy deployment of the Lebanese Army and Security Forces in the region, the National News Agency reported.
