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Gebran Bassil, Lebanese politician: Hezbollah should disarm

Gebran Bassil, Lebanese politician: Hezbollah should disarm

The Interview vor 2 Monaten

Jeremy Bowen speaks to Lebanese politician Gebran Bassil about the country’s future

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“The state of Lebanon needs to have an exclusivity of arms. And
definitely, Hezbollah needs to be disarmed… Disarming a group or
a community is not possible by force, it's possible by
conviction. You put pressure, but you cannot eliminate a whole
society, a whole community. We need to have an exclusivity of
arms in the hand of the state, an exclusivity of decision through
a political process, pressuring Hezbollah to disarm, but getting
also in parallel a full withdrawal of the Israelis from occupied
Lebanese territories and a full cessation of hostilities.”

Jeremy Bowen speaks to Gebran Bassil, the Lebanese politician who
served as the country’s Foreign Minister between 2014 and 2020.

Mr. Bassil, who is from the country’s Maronite Christian ethnic
group, leads the right-wing Free Patriotic Movement political
party. The party was founded over 30 years ago by the former
President of Lebanon, Michel Aoun, who is also Bassil’s
father-in-law.

In October 2024, a year after the Hamas-led attacks of 7 October
started the current Middle East conflict, the Free Patriotic
Movement party announced that it was cutting ties with Hezbollah.
Bassil slammed the Iranian-backed militant group for threatening
the safety and stability of Lebanon when it launched its own
attacks on Israel in support of Hamas.

As the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah continues in
southern Lebanon, Bassil and his party are part of growing calls
for the country to take a new direction. The Interview brings you
conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the
world. The best interviews from the BBC, including episodes with
the World Health Organisation’s Hanan Balkhy; Ali Bahreini,
Iranian ambassador to the UN; and Syrian Minister, Hind Kabawat.
You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays
and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a
podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get
your podcasts.

Presenter: Jeremy Bowen Producers: Samantha Granville and Ben
Cooper Editor: Justine Lang

Get in touch with us on email TheInterview@bbc.co.uk and use the
hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.

(Image: Gebran Bassil. Credit: Getty)