Hariri Returns to Beirut after 3-Year Absence, Discusses with Salam Saudi Aid

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  • W460
  • W460
  • W460
  • W460

Al-Mustaqbal movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri made on Friday a surprise return to Beirut and met with Premier Tammam Salam at the Grand Serail to discuss a Saudi military aid.

Hariri left Lebanon in early 2011, months after the collapse of his national unity cabinet. He has repeatedly claimed that security reasons were preventing his return to Beirut.

A statement issued by his press office said the Mustaqbal chief arrived in Beirut from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, at dawn Friday.

He visited the grave of his father ex-PM Rafik Hariri in downtown Beirut and then headed for talks with Salam, it added.

Salam's press office said Hariri briefed the prime minister on a decision by Saudi King Abdullah to provide the Lebanese army with an additional $1 billion in aid.

The discussions focused on a mechanism to spend the donation, it added.

The funds are separate from the $3 billion Saudi Arabia pledged in December to help strengthen Lebanon's armed forces with the purchase of weapons from France.

Hariri left the Grand Serail after the 50-minute talks without making any statement.

But during a chat with several reporters, he said he “came to Lebanon on a visit during the current stage particularly after the (latest) Saudi donation.”

“My visit will be long,” he added.

Several Lebanese officials, including Speaker Nabih Berri and Kataeb Party chief Amin Gemayel, telephoned Hariri to congratulate him on his return.

After his Grand Serail meeting, Hariri went to the Center House where he held talks with top March 14 officials and ambassadors.

His arrival to Beirut has a huge significance. It came amid a rising terrorist threat in the country after jihadists took over the northeastern border town of Arsal.

The militants withdrew on Thursday. But Arsal's seizure marked the first time that extremists battling Syrian President Bashar Assad's troops carried out a large-scale incursion into Lebanon.

G.K.

H.K.

Comments 42
Missing sanctify 08 August 2014, 10:56

Welcome back. It's time we Lebanese started to show respect to one another, no matter what. We are all the sons and daughters of the Cedars and we miss living, laughing, smiling and playing together.

Missing nuetral 08 August 2014, 11:07

Well said, bravo.

Thumb _mowaten_ 08 August 2014, 12:54

too bad he didnt come through damascus as promised, but yea, i guess we can say welcome

Thumb FlameCatcher 08 August 2014, 14:33

@jerry : FT practices the art of irrelevance, lies and BS !

Thumb geha 08 August 2014, 14:37

hizbushaitan started to realize that sunni extremism can be destructive to all shia in the region, and there is no hope without moderate sunnis.

Thumb ex-fpm 08 August 2014, 15:11

I disagree @geha, HA does not care about moderate sunnis or christians. They need an extremist opponent to justify their existence. HA has an ideology as you well know based on religious sectarianism and rejecting the other.

Thumb FlameCatcher 08 August 2014, 15:17

@Ex-fpm : You're right !

HA cannot exist without Israel. By lack of war opportunities, they have to turn somewhere else to justify their illegal weapons so now they need to invent and fuel "terrorist" threats to continue existing.

An enemy without a face is the best enemy because you can create new threats as needed to endocrinate your sheep. Same tactics as Assad. Same tactics as the US (9-11...)

Thumb ex-fpm 08 August 2014, 17:15

texas; ISIL came into being as a result of the atrocities of Assad, Malki, HA and others who used violence and torture as a means to advance their agendas. Today's US strikes on ISIL are not out of care for the shia, sunnis, christians, or kurds of Iraq or the middle east. I just read an analyst claiming the USA intervened with airstrikes once they realized that Kurdish oil flows to Israel through Turkey are seriously in jeopardy. ISIL was about to overrun all Kurdish positions and oilfields as authenticated by U.S spy satellites. Hence, the intervention. USA again serves the interests of Israel above anything else.

Thumb geha 08 August 2014, 17:28

guys, the way I see things is as follows:
- there are 3 major actors on the ground these days not 2:
1- iran, and we all know what they want: control the arabian Gulf countries, plus iraq, syria and Lebanon.
2- The US and its 3 proxies (israel, Qatar & Turkey): they want to disrupt all the countries so they create confessional entities instead.
3- KSA, who wants to save what can be salvaged from the Arab countries in the face of the other two.

in this context, iran & KSA prefer to cooperate in Lebanon to thwart what the US is doing with ISIL.
i know that skeptics will say that the US is Bombing ISIL today, but my fear is that this will be the excuse that ISIL will use to open the water frm the dam, thus killing around 100K in iraq.
cnn and world news are talking about that dam all the time.

Thumb geha 08 August 2014, 17:30

and by the way fpm: ISIL is the creation of the US, financed by Qatar and trained by Turkey to just create confessional states in the region to alleviate any further danger from Israel, and have a better grip on the resources of the middle east.

Thumb ex-fpm 08 August 2014, 20:15

texas: I have no doubt assad faclittated and aided ISIL and still is. He is trying to show the world " look at the alternative", me or ISIL.

Thumb lebanon_first 08 August 2014, 12:19

Beautiful post

Thumb _mowaten_ 08 August 2014, 12:53

dama3et 3eynak? ;)

(gave it +1 too)

Thumb geha 08 August 2014, 10:56

let us see now what m8 has to say about that :)

Default-user-icon CFTC (Guest) 08 August 2014, 11:20

Excellent news !!!...especially for Saniora.. Welcome back !!!

Missing imperatrice 08 August 2014, 11:23

ahla bhal talli ahla :-)

Thumb lebanon_first 08 August 2014, 12:20

somthing is cooking. And as usual, we are kept in the dark. Soon, it will clarify.

Thumb nickjames 08 August 2014, 12:28

Hariri is definitely up to something. He wouldn't come just to support the army. He came most likely to hold talks to resolve the vacuum

Missing imperatrice 08 August 2014, 12:37

3n jdid
أهلا بهالطلةأهلا

Thumb thrust 08 August 2014, 12:46

or money

Missing ysurais 08 August 2014, 13:48

Hope all Lebanese come together and rescue the country.
Hope all Lebanese forget the nonsense of m 8 or 14 or whatever/ religion, ect..
Hope all Lebanese kick out all the foreign Syrians + Palestinians groups/factions..........
We need peace & love

Thumb kris 08 August 2014, 13:53

Welcome back, we missed u :)

Missing incorruptible 08 August 2014, 14:07

I love how he called this a "visit". Interesting that he decides to come back as ISIS are at our doorstep. Returning to prepare the red carpet for your brethren Mr. Hariri?

Missing incorruptible 08 August 2014, 14:09

I guess he considers home Riyadh. Or perhaps the caliphate? What's the capital of that hell hole?

Default-user-icon achrafieh (Guest) 08 August 2014, 14:24

welcome back MR saadeldine ,
but you missed the airport of Damascus

Missing karim- 08 August 2014, 14:28

I wonder if Aoun spoke to his allies the murderers and got to grantee Hariri's personal security.

Missing karim- 08 August 2014, 15:03

But what if his killers were also trained by Chuck Norris...

btw I like how you posted the immediately singed up again with a different name just to give one negative to me one posotive for yourself, I have a feeling you were also Chuck Norris, OUSS sensei!

Default-user-icon jeanazziz (Guest) 08 August 2014, 14:39

the Damascus airport thing was an m8 media invention he denied it

Thumb ex-fpm 08 August 2014, 15:07

Welcome back, but I think it is a bad idea.

Thumb FlameCatcher 08 August 2014, 15:07

@southern : Unlike Hezbollah goons, Hariri passes through customs and border control. He does not enter the country illegally carrying all sorts of illegal items !

Missing imperatrice 08 August 2014, 16:45

فهل سنسمع من حزب الله خطاب جديد يقول: انا وعون ع الحريري، وانا والحريري ع الغريب؟ هذا ما نأمله
lets wait and see :-)

Default-user-icon Georges (Guest) 08 August 2014, 16:53

What are you coming to do Hariri ? Steal more money ?

Thumb gma-bs-artist. 08 August 2014, 18:11

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Thumb beiruti 08 August 2014, 19:25

It is not a coincidence that the KSA gave Lebanon $1.0 billion dollars and that Saad came back to Lebanon within 72 hours of that grant.

Aoun has the deal with Hariri to become the next President of Lebanon. He was only waiting for his paycheck to come through from KSA and apparently it now has, a piece of the $1.0 billion.

Look for President Aoun and PM Hariri in the near future.

Thumb ex-fpm 08 August 2014, 20:07

Hariri does not need Aoun to become Prime Minister, but Aoun needs Hariri to become President.

Default-user-icon Dan (Guest) 08 August 2014, 20:59

Did Hariri deposit the check in the Lebanese Army bank account or not yet? Did the check come with conditions from Saudi Arabia?

Thumb jabal10452 08 August 2014, 21:03

Ya jame3a, I have a simple question:
SA has an excellent air force, and is next door to Iraq. The king keeps on condemning Da3esh. Why isn't SA hitting Da3esh in Iraq? Que passa?

Thumb jabal10452 09 August 2014, 00:44

Texas, the answer to your question is pretty obvious: Bashar needs Da3esh to legitimize his claim that his fight is against fundamentalist terrorism. But SA's inaction about them is a little suspect, if you ask me. I have a feeling that SA finds Dae3sh a convenient pressure point on Malaki to force him to be more inclusive of the Sunnis in Iraq.

Thumb ice-man 09 August 2014, 09:58

@jabal: does Iran have an air force?

Thumb jabal10452 09 August 2014, 10:24

Ice-man, the same applies to Iran. Why they are not involving their Air Force to help their ally Malaki is difficult to understand. Maybe they also want him to reform so that they can have a little peace and quiet next door. I don't know, but this is all very strange.

Thumb beiruti 08 August 2014, 21:32

SA came across with the money and the deal is that Hariri must be there to oversee its expenditure. Hezbollah is boxed in and had to accept that the LAF be properly equipped. The price extracted for this is the Hezbollah pick for President. frankly I did not believe that Hezbollah wanted Aoun, rather, Qaweshi , but on good authority, I learned that it will be Aoun and Hezbollah will have no choice.

God save us all if this information is accurate.

Missing ramezg 09 August 2014, 00:24

They killed his father, and they killed my cousin Gebran, and they killed two dozen others like them, just because they could. Saad Hariri's return to Lebanon is giving the killers an opportunity to kill him too. He knows it, yet he still chooses to put himself in harm's way. He should have stayed outside the country.