Shiite duo entrusts Mikati with finding exit for Ibrahim mandate extension

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With the start of a week full of critical milestones, attention is directed to the agenda and moves that the General Labor Union will decide in the coming days in coordination with all associations, unions, and state employees in the face of the authority's indifference to the deteriorating living conditions of citizens.

This comes while the priority of the House of Representatives bureau will be focused today on discussing the agenda of a legislative session that Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri is determined to call for it at the end of the week... even if it is not held!

Meanwhile, the head of the Free Patriotic Movement, Gebran Bassil reconsidered his "Christian" calculations and decided to turn the legislative table in the face of the Shiite duo (Hezbollah and the Amal Movement) and back down from the pledge to secure legitimacy for the extension of the Director General of Public Security, Major General Abbas Ibrahim's mandate, circles familiar with the exacerbating tension between "The FPM" and "Hezbollah" said that this relationship crossed the "line of return," and moved from the stage of "extending the hand and not removing it between the partners of Mar Mikhael's understanding" to the stage of "biting fingers" waiting for the one who shouts first."

This article is originally publihed in, translated from Lebanese newspaper Nidaa al-Watan.

The same sources claimed that Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's declaration at the end of the week that "the Mar Mikhael understanding is in a critical situation" and what transpired yesterday after the high-pitched response from MP Gebran Bassil confirmed that the two sides are on the verge of breaking the "twinning" through which they have ruled since 2006.

This is especially true in light of "Hezbollah's failure to respond to Aoun's desire to repurpose the presidential influences of the understanding in favor of Basil.

From this perspective, the circles set the offensive tone against "Hezbollah," whether from Aoun or Basil, under the slogan of targeting the "corrupt system" within the framework of "the last attempt to lure the party into a presidential agreement with the FPM to prevent it from stripping its Christian cover," mainly since the movement's leader delivered direct messages in this direction by emphasizing that he must have the last word with "Hezbollah" in delivering a president, in reference to the party's insistence on nominating the head of the Marada Movement Sleiman Frangieh for the presidency.

Regarding the issue of the mandate extension for the Director General of General Security, parliamentary sources claimed that the "Shiite duo" entrusted Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati with the task of finding an "exit" for this matter after Bassil blocked the possible extension in Parliament.

In this regard, the sources revealed that discussions are concentrated on a few exits that permit the extension decision to be passed "administratively," whether by a decision of the Caretaker Minister of Interior or a decree issued by the Council of Ministers. However, the sources acknowledged the legal challenges that prevent this solution.

This is happening as Mikati consults with Berri about how to get past them before Ibrahim retires at the end of the month.

On another note, Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rai continued to expose the ruling class and addressed the officials, saying that they "reject any advice from friend states that are keen on the stability of Lebanon and every urgent call to elect a president."

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