Recent reports refute and corroborate the visit of Wafiq Safa, the leader of Hezbollah’s Liaison and Coordination Unit, to Mirna Chalouhi, the headquarters of the “Free Patriotic Movement,” thus its head Gebran Bassil, from whom the negotiation rounds with the party were launched through a number of party hawks.

“Mar Mikhael,” the two groups gained ground, even if their strategic criteria and aims diverged from the head of the movement’s personal desires.

It is no secret that the relationship between Chalouhi and Haret Hreik was marred by many fluctuations, most of which were linked to ministerial and institutional quotas and financing of “orange” projects in the Ministry of Energy that burned billions of dollars from the state treasury, and formed the main detonator of the high tension that was controlling the relationship with the Amal movement for years through the exclusivity of the portfolio of the Ministry of Finance and assistants.

Before and after Michel Aoun’s departure from Baabda Palace are not the same. And, before the last parliamentary elections, the relationship between the movement and Hezbollah shifted from parity to a relationship dependent on what the latter gave and mocked in order to remove Bassil from this entitlement with the fewest losses that he left. It has a diverse legislative majority, although it is dominated by the “orange” side.

Today, the priorities of the head of the movement changed after his father-in-law succession, especially since the Parliament Speaker, Nabih Berri, announced his support for former Minister Sleiman Franjieh for the presidency, followed by the adoption of this nomination by the Secretary General of the party, Hassan Nasrallah.

Bassil was unable to reinvest his media skills in order to reclaim his prior status as the leader of a rotten bloc with Hezbollah, who forgave his political failings and continued to cover him in order to barter him in crucial advantages.