Lebanese Free Patriotic Movement MP Nicolas Sehnaoui: Everybody In Our Party Resents Hizbullah And Our Alliance With Them

Lebanese MP Nicolas Sehnaoui, a member of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) and Lebanon's former Minister of Telecommunications, said in a February 2, 2022 interview on OTV (Lebanon) that the FPM and the Christians it represents feel resentful about Hizbullah and the FPM's alliance with it. He explained that initially, people had thought that Hizbullah would be the best partner for protecting and straightening out Lebanon, but that Hizbullah's actions have indicated otherwise. He said that had Hizbullah allied with the Christians in order to establish a proper state in Lebanon, the country would have been stronger and much better off.

Interviewer: "Aren't the Free Patriotic Movement [FPM] supporters resentful, reproachful, or worried about your alliance with Hizbullah?"

[...]

Nicolas Sehnaoui: "It is not that some people are resentful and others are not. We are all resentful. I want this to be clear..."

Interviewer: "About what?"

Sehnaoui: "About Hizbullah."

Interviewer: "About your alliance with Hizbullah?"

Sehnaoui: "Yes."

Interviewer: "All of you in the FPM are resentful about the alliance with Hizbullah?"

Sehnaoui: "Everybody, Beginning with people who initially had thought that this is an important alliance that protects the country and that Hizbullah is the best partner to straighten the country out or to protect it, and all the way to the right-wingers who said this might be a mistake. We are all resentful. Don't you see what has become of us?

"I am not talking about the FPM. The FPM does not think about itself. It thinks about Lebanon and about its base, the Christians."

Interviewer: "Is everything that happened because of Hizbullah?"

Sehnaoui: "I am talking about what happened to our country. We are unable to protect ourselves. We are saying that had [Hizbullah] agreed to join us in establishing a [proper] state, we would have fortified our position, and all these blows would have affected us, as a society, to a lesser extent."

[...]

Interviewer: "That point is very important, because your alliance with Hizbullah is a historic understanding in Lebanon. A Muslim faction and a Christian faction have reached a long-term understanding, and you say that we saw what happened because of this alliance..."

Sehnaoui: "No, no...."

Interviewer: "Or is it because of Hizbullah? You should clarify this."

Sehnaoui: "I did not say that it is because of Hizbullah. I said that people are resentful towards Hizbullah. It's clear. We have been talking about this for months. [FPM Leader Gebran] Bassil talked about this several times..."

Interviewer: "Because of [Hizbullah's] activity abroad?"

Sehnaoui: "No, in Lebanon. Hizbullah cannot always say that they cannot be separated from Amal, and that they are not forced to do this, that, and the other. Whenever we feel that they have something that is more important than our alliance - an alliance that was meant to serve Lebanon - it makes us resentful, obviously. Are we supposed to be happy about this?

"And when we see the catastrophic outcome for our country, we become even more resentful."