28 Facts About Gebran Bassil

Gebran Gerge Bassil is a Lebanese politician who is the leader of the Free Patriotic Movement since 2015 and leader of the Strong Lebanon bloc in the Lebanese parliament since 2018.

Gebran Bassil ran in the general election of 2005 and 2009, and was appointed as the Minister of Telecommunications in the First Cabinet of Saad Hariri.

Gebran Bassil subsequently held the position of Minister of Energy and Water between 2011 and 2014, as well as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants from 2014 to 2020.

Gebran Bassil won a parliamentary seat for Batroun district and the Maronite sect in the general election in 2018.

Gebran Bassil was highly targeted in the widespread Lebanese protests which began by the end of 2019.

Gebran Bassil is often accused of corruption, racism and nepotism, and was labeled the "most hated man in Lebanon".

Gebran Bassil was sanctioned by the United States under the Magnitsky Act.

In October 2024, Gebran Bassil, announced that the Free Patriotic Movement was no longer in alliance with Hezbollah.

Gebran Bassil received a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in civil engineering from the American University of Beirut in 1992 and 1993 respectively.

Gebran Bassil was a member of a number of associations: the Lebanese Red Cross and Rotary Club of Batroun, Lebanon.

Between the years of 1998 and 2005, Gebran Bassil was an activist in various positions in the Free Patriotic Movement.

From 2005 to 2008, Gebran Bassil was head of the Free Patriotic Movement.

Gebran Bassil served as the Minister of telecommunications in the Lebanese cabinet led by Fouad Siniora from May 2008 to June 2009, and then as the minister of energy in the cabinet headed by Saad Hariri Bassil lost the general elections held in 2009.

On 12 January 2011, the government collapsed after Gebran Bassil announced that all ten opposition ministers had resigned following months of warnings by Hezbollah that it would not remain inactive should there be indictments against the group.

Gebran Bassil served as the Minister of Energy and Water in the cabinet headed by Najib Mikati since June 2011, and assumed the role of Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants as of February 2014.

Lebanon's president Aoun and some Lebanese officials including Gebran Bassil believed that the abrupt resignation of Prime Minister Saad Hariri was made under coercion by Saudis and have claimed that the Saudis have kept him hostage.

However, Gebran Bassil maintains that the protesters who chanted against him do not make up the majority of Lebanese and that he believes the people of Lebanon want change, but he argued that he's not leaving until voters drive him out in elections, according to The Washington Post.

Gebran Bassil added that he joined the government as Foreign Minister to take advantage of diplomatic immunity, and congratulated Joe Biden for his win in the 2020 presidential election.

Gebran Bassil's supporters gathered in front of his house, expressing their solidarity and sympathy for him.

The US ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea suggested that Gebran Bassil "expressed willingness to break with Hezbollah on certain conditions", and that the sanctions are targeting Gebran Bassil and not the Free Patriotic Movement.

Gebran Bassil's father-in-law is the former Lebanese president Michel Aoun, the former leader and founder of the Free Patriotic Movement.

On 27 September 2020, Gebran Bassil's party said he was infected with a "mild" case of COVID-19 as cases surged throughout Lebanon.

Gebran Bassil was criticized by many Lebanese politicians after an interview in December 2017 with Al-Mayadeen in which he stated that Lebanon does not have an ideological problem with Israel.

Gebran Bassil said in that interview that he was not against Israel "living in security".

In January 2018, Gebran Bassil was recorded in a private meeting calling the Speaker of Parliament, Nabih Berri, a "thug".

In March 2018, Gebran Bassil proposed amending Lebanese naturalization laws to allow citizenship to be passed from mothers onto their children.

In late 2019, Gebran Bassil became the subject of a popular Lebanese-language chant in the Lebanese protests.

In January 2019, Gebran Bassil bragged at Davos that he can teach the United States and the United Kingdom "how to run a country without a budget".