Bassil at a broad FPM meeting: time for national wisdom. Lebanon is neither a prize of war nor a bargaining chip

At the broad meeting held in preparation for the annual conference, President of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), MP Gebran Bassil, said Lebanon is not simply facing a crisis, but rather was at the heart of an existential test.
He stressed that Lebanon must preserve its free, sovereign, and independent territory of 10,425 square kilometers, adding that Lebanon is not a prize of war, a bargaining chip, or an open arena. It is a state.
Bassil said Lebanon is more than just Mount Lebanon. It doesn't belong only to Christians or Muslims.
“Lebanon is built on partnership; if that partnership fails, Lebanon fails with it. Every part of the country matters.”
Bassil rejected any fragmentation, partition, or swallowing up of Lebanon.
“The Bekaa is not on Lebanon’s margins; it is Lebanon’s eastern gate. Whoever leaves the Bekaa weak leaves Lebanon exposed. The South is not on Lebanon’s margins; it is Lebanon’s stronghold and, God willing, its southern gate open to peace, not sealed by war. Whoever abandons the South abandons Lebanon’s defense and leaves Lebanon weak. The North is not on Lebanon’s margins; it is Lebanon’s northern gate and the home of its second capital. Whoever treats the North as an appendage of neighboring Syria leaves Lebanon without a flank,” he said.
Bassil stressed that peace must not come at Lebanon’s expense, but rather serve Lebanon’s interests.
“Lebanon will not be an alternative homeland for Palestinians, and we will not accept resettlement in any form. No Syrian homeland in Lebanon. No Palestinian homeland in Lebanon. Lebanon is the homeland of the Lebanese.”
He added that the issue of Syrian displacement is not simply a political matter, but a matter of existence.
Bassil said Lebanon wants peace, and that peace is a choice for life.
But peace, he added, cannot be imposed through fire and blood. Lebanon signs peace by choice, not under fire.
“Peace is a choice, not suicide, and it cannot be imposed by force, because force leads to surrender, not peace.”
Bassil encourages peace, but not an imposed defeat that creates oppression and injustice, which in turn leads to an explosion.
What Lebanon needs, he said, is a peace that protects its land, its borders, and its sovereignty.
Bassil said the Lebanese Army is Lebanon’s guarantee: one army, unified and free of factions.
“We are with the army, not with militias. The army means the state. Militias mean chaos. We choose the state over chaos.”
Bassil said Lebanon is not isolated and should build an orderly relationship with Syria based on good neighborly ties, mutual respect, and economic cooperation.
“With Syria, there should be no tutelage and no rupture.”
Regarding Israel, he stated that the relationship should be based on the principle of rights for both parties: Lebanon’s right to its land and Israel’s right to security.
He remembered the same statement made at Mar Mikhael Church in 2019 before a Hezbollah parliamentary delegation.
Bassil said Lebanon is more than just land and territory; it is a space of freedom and diversity. It serves as a model proving that difference does not hinder coexistence but enhances the value of life.
If this idea is preserved, Lebanon persists. If it is lost, the Lebanon we know will vanish.
He emphasized that everyone shares the responsibility to look out for each other to safeguard our free, sovereign, and independent Lebanon.
Bassil said no one needs to ask about the FPM’s position, because it is already clear: 10,452 kilometers², not one meter less.
Lebanon is not only an area, but it is also a state, and a state requires one army, one land, and one people.
“One army, with no weapons outside the state’s authority. One land, not one meter less. One people, with no component left out. This is the Lebanon of 10,452 kilometers², not one meter less,” he said.
“Whoever wants to give that up has already given up. The FPM doesn’t give up its land nor its people.”
Addressing party members, Bassil said: “Be grateful when the Lebanese-Israeli attacks you, when the Lebanese-Iranian attacks you, and when the Lebanese-Syrian attacks you. That means your position is purely Lebanese. Do not be afraid if they threaten you. We would rather die as free Lebanese than live as Lebanese agents.”
“Do you want us, as a Free Patriotic Movement, to tell Israel to go on with its attacks on Lebanon, its bombardment, its war, its killings, and even its occupation of Lebanon? And do you want us to be afraid of an Israeli officer? 
Do you want us, as a Free Patriotic Movement, to tell Iran to take Lebanon hostage in its war with the West and the Gulf, drag it into conflict, and make it pay the price in order to save its regime and its project? Should Lebanon become a tool in that war instead of a country that decides through its state, not through one faction? Should it become an arena of war instead of an arena of dialogue?”
Do you want us, as a Free Patriotic Movement, to ask Syria to enter Lebanon from the East or the North, strike a Lebanese group, reoccupy its land, leave the displaced and the armed presence in place, and then call all that necessary, legitimate, and temporary? Is that how a three-way Israeli-Lebanese-Syrian peace is built?” Bassil questioned.
According to Bassil, those who once dealt with Syria, Israel, or Iran, then chose to forget that history, have no right to accuse the FPM.
Yet this is not the time for settling scores, he said. It is a time for solidarity and for protecting the country from strife. No one, he added, should try to make people forget their past.
Bassil said he does not want to settle scores or attack anyone at home, because a time of war is a time for national wisdom.
He called on supporters not to engage in incitement or insults, even if they are insulted.
“Our role today is to reassure people and spread solidarity.”
He added that the party’s role now is to care for displaced families, protect internal peace, keep dialogue open, and work to shield Lebanon from conflict and harm.
He also called for a free national policy to preserve Lebanon as a state and prevent it from becoming either a ransom of war or a prize of peace.
“Lebanon is a maker of peace. We do not want it to be a land of war, but a land of peace,” he concluded.