Former PM Saad Hariri arrived in Beirut to mark the 21th anniversary of the assassination of his father, former PM Rafic Hariri
Hariri arrived Thursday in Lebanon and will on Saturday deliver a speech marking the 21st anniversary of the assassination of his father on Valentine’s Day
On January 24,2022 Saad Hariri announced that he was leaving politics for now and would not run in the 2022 parliamentary elections.
Hariri, a three-time prime minister inherited the political leadership from his late father, billionaire businessman Rafik Hariri, who was one of Lebanon’s most powerful and influential politicians after the end of the 1975-90 civil war.
Former slain Lebanese PM Rafik Hariri, father of ex-PM Saad Hariri was assassinated in downtown Beirut on February 14, 2005. Three Hezbollah operatives Habib Merhi, Hussein Oneissi, and Salim Ayyash were sentenced by a UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) to life imprisonment for the killing of Hariri but Hezbollah refused to hand them over to the court.
On February 14, 2005, former PM Rafic Hariri was killed along with 21 others in an explosion in Beirut, Lebanon. Explosives equivalent to around 1,000 kilograms (2,200 pounds) of TNT were detonated as his motorcade drove near the St. George Hotel. Among the dead were several of Hariri’s bodyguards and former Minister of the Economy, Bassel Fleihan.
On March 14, 2005, a month after Hariri’s assassination , over a million Lebanese flocked to downtown Beirut to demand the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon after a nearly 29-year of military presence. The mass rally was later dubbed the Cedar Revolution or Independence Uprising.
EX PM Saad Hariri said in January 2022 that he is convinced there is “no room for any positive opportunity for Lebanon” in light of Tehran’s growing influence, internal divisions, rising sectarian sentiments and the dysfunction of the state.
In an emotional televised speech Hariri said that he did all he could to prevent civil war in Lebanon by compromising, an apparent reference to forming governments that included Hezbollah.
Hariri has been the most powerful Sunni Muslim politician in Lebanon since 2005. He served as a prime minister three times until he resigned in October 2019 following mass protests against the country’s ruling class. He was appointed to the position a fourth time, but was unable to form a government.
“Saad Hariri remains the primary Sunni leader in Lebanon,” Randa Slim, a political analyst with the Washington-based Middle East Institute said in a Twitter post last year . “His political exit created a vacuum ,” she said, adding that the scramble for the Sunni community leadership mantle will now intensify.
His relations with Hezbollah worsened in 2020 when a U.N.-backed tribunal sentenced Hezbollah member Salim Ayyash to life imprisonment for his involvement in his dad’s assassination.
” I cannot prevent anyone from running in the upcoming election , but my “advice as a brother and friend is not to run”, he told his parliamentary bloc when he decided to quit politics.
he said that he decided to quit politics because of his conviction that the country is on the verge of further deterioration, and that there is no solution in sight” , a possible reference to the fact that Lebanon has become a colony of Iran and administered by its heavily armed proxy Hezbollah.
Hezbollah, which is listed as a terrorist organization by several Western and Arab countries and which claimed to have over 100, 000 fighters and hundreds of thousands of various types of rockets and missiles was drastically weakened in its last war with Israel and lost all its top leaders including Hassan nasrallha and his heir apparent Hashem Safieddine. its military wing is reportedly being directly managed by the Quds force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard IRGC.
Hariri began a series of meetings on Friday at Beit el-Wasat with U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa, in the presence of Bahia Hariri, head of the Hariri Foundation for Sustainable Human Development, as well as advisers Ghattas Khoury and Hani Hammoud.
The talks focused on the latest local and regional developments.
Hariri later met with U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert to discuss recent developments.
He also received French Ambassador Hervé Magro, with discussions covering the situation in Lebanon and bilateral relations between the two countries.
Bou Saab , Lebanon needs Hariri
Deputy Speaker of Parliament, MP Elias Bou Saab, affirmed, after meeting with former Prime Minister Saad Hariri at Beit al-Wasat on Thursday evening, that Lebanon is going through a delicate phase that could have been less complicated if the approach of dialogue and communication that characterized Hariri’s experience in previous phases had continued, considering that his political acumen and intelligence and his management of difficult crises constituted an element of hope for the Lebanese to emerge from the successive crises.
Bou Saab noted that this annual meeting with former PM Hariri always has a special emotional character, expressing his hope that this communication will not remain confined to an annual framework, but will develop into a more effective role in political life, given Lebanon’s need for a unifying authority capable of opening channels of dialogue between the various forces.
President Aoun pays tribute to Rafic Hariri ahead of assassination anniversary
Lebanon’s President on Friday paid tribute to former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri ahead of the 21st anniversary of his assassination, calling him a leader who devoted his life to building the state and rebuilding the country.
President Joseph Aoun said Lebanon “misses today a man who dedicated his life to the project of the state, to the reconstruction of Lebanon, and to strengthening its Arab and international standing.”
In a statement marking the anniversary, Aoun said Hariri believed in “Lebanon as a state of institutions,” in coexistence, and in the idea that true national recovery begins with investment in people, education, and the economy.
He described Hariri’s assassination as a turning point in Lebanon’s modern history and “a message that building a state requires great sacrifices.”
Aoun said honoring Hariri’s legacy means renewing Lebanon’s commitment to establishing a strong and just state governed by law, preserving national unity, and putting Lebanon’s interests above all else.
