On the 15-year anniversary of the Mar Mikhael agreement between the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) and Hezbollah, the FPM party released a statement saying it must be re-examined in order to remain viable.
Back on February 6th, 2006, the Free Patriotic Movement and Hezbollah signed an agreement in the Mar Mikhael Church located in Beirut. It created an alliance of mutual political empowerment, which each of these groups needed at the time, and that has impacted the political scene to the present time.
Now, the FPM is revealing that the memorandum of understanding with the militant group failed at achieving its goal of building a state and establishing the rule of law.
The statement came during a virtual meeting headed by FPM leader and MP Gebran Bassil, in which they said that the agreement had “spared Lebanon the evil of strife and division, safeguarding it from foreign aggression, and deterred Israel and repelled terrorism…”
According to the FPM council, such understanding is no longer developing towards “opening new horizons,” and the continuation of the agreement has become non-viable.
This does not come as a surprise. Gebran Bassil had told Al-Hadath back in November that his FPM has issues with Hezbollah that could break the alliance, a decision that falls on the party to consider.