The newspaper "Nidaa al-Watan" reported: In a "Russian" escalation against the West and the United States, the Secretary-General of "Hezbollah," Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, appeared yesterday on the Lebanese scene to launch a "barrage" of anti-American positions targeting "Aukar," asserting that the American embassy "enslaves" Lebanese officials, prevents solutions to the electricity crisis, obstructs the import of Egyptian gas, and hinders the establishment of a Russian oil refinery in Lebanon. Under the banner "Know Your Enemy," Nasrallah directed clear "reprimands" towards the Aounist Era and its Foreign Ministry in response to Lebanon's vote against the Russian invasion of Ukraine at the UN General Assembly, not hesitating to address "Lebanese officials" with the phrase: "Do not be slaves to America," openly accusing the Lebanese Foreign Ministry of acting on orders from "Aukar," by indicating that the statement it issued denouncing the "Russian invasion" of Ukrainian territory was "written by the American embassy." He warned against continuing the policy of "subservience to American dictates," emphasizing that it would have been better for Lebanon to abstain from voting against Russia at the UN, as Iran did.
Reiterating Hezbollah's principled stance rejecting the policy of "disengagement," Nasrallah criticized the government for not adhering to this policy regarding the Russian-Ukrainian war, while simultaneously criticizing the "silence of those calling for neutrality when it comes to America." However, it appeared that he was more focused on targeting the attempt by the "Free Patriotic Movement" to barter political and presidential positions with American officials than on opposing votes alongside the United States at the UN. He asked: "Tell us what America has offered you? What have you gained from the Americans except for false promises?" He criticized "some Lebanese officials who think that the Americans want something specific and thus implement it even without being asked."
In contrast, the Secretary-General of Hezbollah reminded of the "Eastward" direction option, recalling that a Russian company had made an offer a year and a half ago to refine about 200,000 barrels of oil at a large refinery sufficient for Lebanon's needs, "but the American embassy prevents a Lebanese response to this Russian offer." Nasrallah concluded by telling the "subservient" Lebanese officials: "Let the great devil of America bring a company that offers what the Russian company offered, and let them sign with it."
Electoral-wise, the "Megacenter" file is at the forefront of events related to the upcoming parliamentary elections, awaiting its impact on the government's commitment to conduct elections on the scheduled date of May 15. The day before it was to be discussed at the cabinet meeting, the level of confrontation and excitement in approaching the file increased, especially after the ministerial committee assigned to study it concluded after a long meeting yesterday to "submit a clear report" to the cabinet session that will be held tomorrow at the Baabda Palace, covering a comprehensive study including "all matters related to the Megacenter," concerning both the legal aspect and logistical readiness or the financial capacity to adopt this mechanism in the upcoming electoral cycle.
Interior and Municipalities Minister Bassam Mawlawi summarized the committee's position by indicating that it is "against postponing the elections (...) and we will present the discussions to the cabinet for conducting legally sound elections on time and without any delay," only noting that "establishing the Megacenter has necessary rules and requirements, which we insist on for the elections to be sound."
As for the backdrop of the electoral scene, parliamentary sources feel that "it has become clear that the head of the 'Free Patriotic Movement,' Gibran Bassil, will spare no effort to 'sabotage' electoral preparations with various types of 'landmines.' After dismantling the 'detonator' of the constitutional challenge to the election law and failing to restrict the expatriate vote to 6 continental seats within District 16, he is now striving to plant the 'Megacenter' 'mine,' betting that any governmental misstep will lead to the explosion of the electoral process and its postponement from its scheduled date in mid-May." They pointed to "the accumulation of indicators and data behind the scenes regarding the push by the Aoun Era and its movement toward escalation and stirring up legal, logistical, and financial issues that may lead to extending the current parliament to associate holding parliamentary and presidential elections in one settlement package."
In this context, while the "Strong Lebanon" bloc affirmed yesterday its commitment to adopting the "Megacenter" mechanism in the upcoming parliamentary elections, stressing that it "will spare no effort" to achieve this, the head of the "Lebanese Forces" party, Samir Geagea, explicitly warned of Bassil's premeditated intentions regarding the electoral process, as the head of the "National Movement" and all his ministers and deputies "know better than anyone the impossibility of working with the Megacenter system within the time remaining before the parliamentary elections scheduled for May 15."
Geagea stated in a statement: "Just to remind, we were the first to demand the Megacenter and we still are, and we will continue to call for its adoption, but not to use it as a pretext to postpone the elections or to overthrow them." He clarified that the "intention to postpone" was apparent "through the position of the 'National Movement' ministers in the first meeting of the ministerial committee tasked with exploring the feasibility of adopting the Megacenter in the 2022 elections." He warned, on the other hand, that "postponing elections at this stage means practically canceling them and depriving the Lebanese people of their only chance for salvation after having brought them to the depths of hell."
