Ya Libnan

Former Lebanese PM Calls on Hezbollah to Withdraw From Syria

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hariri 14Former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri called on the militant Hezbollah group on Saturday to withdraw from Syria, saying their involvement in the civil war next door has backfired into Lebanon.

Hariri returned earlier in the day to Lebanon from self-imposed exile to mark the 10th anniversary of his father’s assassination, a slaying that sharply divided Lebanon.

Rafik Hariri was killed with 21 others in massive truck bomb on a Beirut seaside road on Feb. 14, 2005.

Hariri is a harsh critic of Hezbollah and Syrian President Bashar Assad, whom he accused in his speech Saturday of “destroying Syria on the heads of Syrians.”

Hezbollah has sent fighters to Syria to back Assad’s forces against rebels trying to remove him from power. The armed intervention in Syria earned the Shiite group the enmity of Syria’s predominantly Sunni rebels. Assad is a member of the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

“Withdraw from Syria. Stop dragging the fires from Syria to our country, at times from terrorism and at other times from the Golan and tomorrow from we don’t know where,” Hariri said referring to a wave of bombings that hit Lebanon over the past year, killing dozens.

Hariri’s comments came as Syrian troops and Hezbollah are on the offensive in an attempt to capture rebel-held areas on the edge of the Golan.

Last month, an Israeli helicopter attack destroyed a unit near the front line of the Golan Heights killing seven, including an Iranian general. Hezbollah struck back from south Lebanon killing two Israeli soldiers and wounding seven.

Hariri’s father was Lebanon’s most prominent Sunni politician. A United Nations-backed tribunal is trying in absentia five members of the militant Hezbollah group, the country’s most powerful Shiite faction, for the bombing.

Hariri said Hezbollah’s refusal to hand over the suspects is a main reason behind Sunni-Shiite tensions in the country.

Saturday’s visit marks Saad Hariri’s second return to Lebanon after four years in self-imposed exile. Hariri visited Lebanon briefly in August. He left Lebanon in January 2011 after his government was brought down by Hezbollah and its allies.

ABC/AP

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18 responses to “Former Lebanese PM Calls on Hezbollah to Withdraw From Syria”

  1. 5thDrawer Avatar
    5thDrawer

    “Rafik Hariri was killed with 21 others in (a) massive truck bomb ” … AND 200 OTHERS WERE WOUNDED …. (they never put that in it seems …)
    By the way …
    Friends in Tripoli are still waiting for the reconstruction of their homes … ahem, ahem … They are Saad too.
    Wasn’t a ‘donation’ being made ??? Seemed to be in the news …

  2. Hannibal Avatar
    Hannibal

    All you care about Mr. Saad is to have your revenge on Bashar no matter the consequences. The takfiiri genie is out of the bottle and Hezbollah is doing Lebanon a huge favor by fighting ISIS.
    I am certain that a simple U.N. supervised election in Syria post-ISIS should determine who would rule Syria in the after… My bet is that it won’t be the hyena. Now grow some balls and go fight alongside the Lebanese army and Hezbollah in Syria to rid the world of the evil, the arabs, whom you love so much, unleashed on the middle east.

    1. Michaelinlondon1234 Avatar
      Michaelinlondon1234

      I suspect he would be fighting with AlNasura if he chose a side. Perhaps some one should ask him?

      1. Maborlz Ez-Hari Avatar
        Maborlz Ez-Hari

        He will be fighting with al nausea.

  3. Michaelinlondon1234 Avatar
    Michaelinlondon1234

    The people that had the most to gain by harrari’s assassination were mossad.
    They had the means, opportunity and motive.

    1. 5thDrawer Avatar
      5thDrawer

      Then you believe Hezzbolla works for Mossad, Michael??
      http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/magazine/the-hezbollah-connection.html?_r=1

      1. Michaelinlondon1234 Avatar
        Michaelinlondon1234

        I think in Lebanon and Syria it is really difficult to make a living.
        Every group is for it self first.
        Like most places.
        It does not matter whether it is the official armed services, militias, political leaders, Aid agencies or general population.
        Every one is trying to make the best of a situation.
        It does not help with some of the nasty external factors/Rules imposed.

        1. 5thDrawer Avatar
          5thDrawer

          You are right. And I have friends who know it, because they live it.
          There was a guy who dropped in here sometimes, decent chap named Dab … struggled to support a ‘gang-sized’ family in south Beirut with 2 jobs that obviously didn’t pay much … I think he had to give up ‘internet time’ and get a 3rd job when ‘they’ blew his bother and family and their balcony off a building, just for the medical bills.
          For the ‘average citizen’, the place has become a horror – more than it was 5 years ago.
          EVERY day is a struggle just to live.

          1. Michaelinlondon1234 Avatar
            Michaelinlondon1234

            Tragically the ‘gang-sized’ family is the main root of the problem.
            Something I can not and do not know how to deal with in society/ Region terms.
            Odd story from the UK.
            People were being paid for every child they had….The idea was to take children out of poverty. They got carried away and a small group ended up earning more than the Prime minister.

            They are now addressing this over compensation.
            It has not sunk through to the aid agencies yet.
            Unfortunately the UK government use aid agencies like the US uses bombs on people and societies.

          2. 5thDrawer Avatar
            5thDrawer

            hehehe … you and the ‘america bombs’ bit ….
            BUT yes, can’t say there’s a lot of ‘smarts’ in the West ALSO …. Quebec was doing it for both Catholic Church AND ‘French Votes’ …. leads a few into poverty, and many into paying the taxes on what we didn’t really need … more unpaid labour. 😉
            But it’s a ‘religious thought’, isn’t it?? More of ‘us’ than ‘them’. ??
            Most Lebanese ran away … had it down to only 4 mil … and then ASSad stepped in again.

          3. Michaelinlondon1234 Avatar
            Michaelinlondon1234

            It is good to compare thoughts. We may agree or note as the case may be.
            “Most Lebanese ran away … had it down to only 4 mil … and then Assad stepped in again.”…….You do realise that trade with Syria was worth billions to Lebanon pre conflict. Also Syria was one of the few places in the last hundred years that had large scale immigration from surrounding countries. Lots of Lebanese ended up there. If the war stopped soon Lebanon would make a fortune helping to rebuild the place. And you have an advantage over most with the relationship. Despite Harrari.
            Just finished reading the history of the Greek Genocide of 1914 ( Pontic genocide) I ended up there after being side tracked from one of Alexander the greats wars and Darius I.
            Worth looking at the history and demographic movements.
            “250,000 a year” It has slowed to a trickle today. Word will get out quickly that the free meal ticket is over as far as the EU/UN/NGO’s having now run out of money. They have a choice..Start farming or starve.

          4. 5thDrawer Avatar
            5thDrawer

            There is a lot of well-recorded history … even if some try to burn it on occasion.
            More often than not, real interest doesn’t come until later 20’s.
            Books are the better way …. and reading takes time. Cudos to those who do.
            But It also leads to those ‘segue’ moments … understandably. One bit of a line can have your brain flying off to to track that ‘different thought’ you just read …. :-))
            Trouble is, one can’t pack in enough in the time we have … we tend to concentrate on one most interesting to us. At least for a while.
            The ‘demographics’ of humans over the many years on the planet is the most difficult to track … without some general conjecture. And in surprise moments some bit of ground opens up to reveal a source of an ‘old tale’, given more by balladeers than by a text.
            LIFE, is amazing. 🙂

          5. Michaelinlondon1234 Avatar
            Michaelinlondon1234

            LIFE, is amazing. 🙂 Agreed

          6. 5thDrawer Avatar
            5thDrawer

            As for the ‘trade’ …. Right now ASSad needed to allow the potatoes through – perhaps even for his own kitchen. The farming there has gone to pot. (literally and figuratively ;-))
            Trade can be good for two countries, until one decides to gain control of the whole fruit basket, for the good of his table and pocketbook only. Making Trade ‘Deals’ is one thing … being told all the taxes go to one purpose only, makes it tough for the farmers – but even moreso for the ‘city-locked’ citizens in vertical concrete. They can’t grow it.
            Then their jobs go away too … the prospect of ‘rebuilding Syria’ in a distant tomorrow will not save them from the starvation now … As every ‘war-time’ in Lebanon prevented those ‘Syrian Boys’ from learning to pour cement in Lebanon.
            Aside from a fact that not everyone wants to go over a mountain (in either direction) and live away from the wife & kids just to be able to send a little bit home for food-money.
            And you’re right … many took their families and went with their crowd … and while there’s work they stay and pay the taxes there. But when the bombs begin again, they shouldn’t expect it to be any better when they haul over the mountain again, if they haven’t allowed Lebanese to profit from their work. If there is any.

          7. Michaelinlondon1234 Avatar
            Michaelinlondon1234

            Look up the concept of using tyres in rammed earth houses.
            It is something the local refugees could be shown how to do.
            Recycles tyres.

          8. Michaelinlondon1234 Avatar
            Michaelinlondon1234

            Each “Bomb” cost about 1.5 million dollars. That would pay for a lot of condoms

          9. 5thDrawer Avatar
            5thDrawer

            I push the concept … better usage for oil than burning tyres on Lebanon streets. :-))

      2. Maborlz Ez-Hari Avatar
        Maborlz Ez-Hari

        Everybody works for the zionists everybody with a credit card, everybody with a mortgage-related debt, everybody 5th in some way or another works for them. The magazine you read the shows you watch on the box the billboards you drive past everybody.

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