Hariri: We Won't Recognize to Hizbullah Any Rights that Exceed State Right in War, Peace Decisions
Al-Mustaqbal movement leader MP Saad Hariri on Saturday stressed that his political camp will not acknowledge any rights claimed by Hizbullah regarding the decisions of war and peace in the country, reiterating his call for the party to withdraw its fighters from Syria.
“We won't recognize for Hizbullah any rights that exceed the state's right to control the decisions of war and peace and that turn Lebanon into a security and military arena,” said Hariri in an impassioned speech marking the tenth anniversary of the assassination of his father, former premier Rafik Hariri.
Hariri delivered the address in person at the BIEL exhibition center in downtown Beirut after having arrived at midnight from his self-imposed exile in Saudi Arabia. He has been residing for years in Riyadh and Paris over security concerns.
“There is nothing better than being here among you,” Hariri said, addressing a cheering crowd.
“Ten years ago, the first earthquake struck dear Beirut. They assassinated Rafik Hariri and killed a major symbol for success and construction. Throughout 10 years, several quakes occurred one after one to reach unprecedented levels of organized chaos and murder,” added Hariri.
He noted that after the 2005 assassination of his father, which his political camp blamed on Damascus and Hizbullah, Syrian President “Bashar Assad managed to smash Syria over the heads of the Syrians.”
He also accused Assad of “opening the border for the spread of the forces of extremism and perversity and the displacement of 10 million Syrian citizens.”
Turning to Lebanon, al-Mustaqbal's leader underlined that “Rafik Hariri's project remains valid to confront the challenges and there is no solution other than Rafik Hariri's project.”
He warned that “the martyr premier exerted efforts to confront civil war and he rebuilt the state and here we are facing a plan to divide it and destroy its institutions.”
“We are facing a plan to empty the state and destroy its institutions and we're facing a marginalization of Lebanon in its Arab and international ties and a deterioration in development and the standard of living of the Lebanese,” Hariri lamented.
He pointed out that the “first step” in responding to “the schemes of destruction and combating ignorance and regression should be protecting Lebanon through all the means we have.”
Defending al-Mustaqbal's decision to join a coalition government with Hizbullah, which the Special Tribunal for Lebanon has accused of involvement in his father's murder, Hariri said: “We decided to suspend the conflict through joining a government whose first mission was to prevent the country from plunging into total political vacuum.”
As for the ongoing dialogue between his movement and Hizbullah, Hariri emphasized that talks with the party are not "political luxury" or “a step to leave behind the points of contention.”
“Dialogue is simply a necessity in this period -- an Islamic need to contain the Islamic tensions and a national need due to the ongoing vacuum,” he noted.
He underscored that the dispute has not ended regarding “the STL, the handing over of those accused of the assassination, participation in the Syrian war, the state's exclusive possession of arms, and the latest declaration (by Hizbullah's chief) about joining Lebanon to military fronts in Syria, Palestine and Iran.”
“The current dialogue does not mean that we will stop asking about Lebanon's interest in turning the back on Arabs in favor of the Assad regime and a group of militias and organizations.”
Hariri also asked about “Lebanon's interest in sending Lebanese youths to fight in Syria and Iraq and to interfere in Bahrain's affairs.”
“Lebanon is not a card in anyone's hand and the Lebanese are not a bargaining chip,” Hariri added.
Commenting on recent remarks by Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Hariri warned that “linking the Golan and the South fronts is an act of madness.”
It is “an additional reason to ask Hizbullah to withdraw from Syria and stop bringing blazes into the country,” he added.
Addressing Hizbullah, Hariri called for devising a strategy that can “unite the Lebanese in the face of extremism instead of betting on rescuing the Syrian regime and on fake victories.”
“Tasking a sect or a party with military missions would be a decision to hand over Lebanon to chaos and sectarian segregation,” he cautioned.
As for the presidential vacuum, Hariri said: “We've been calling for the election of a president for months now and we have spared no effort to communicate with all parties to this end.”
“The presence of 24 ministers does not make up for the absence of the head of the state. The cabinet can only assume the president's powers in extraordinary cases and the current void is not the result of extraordinary circumstances but rather the result of political intransigence and a power struggle,” he explained.
Separately, Hariri voiced support for the state and army “in the face of extremism and terrorism.”
“There is no middle ground between moderation and extremism. There is no middle ground between the army and the militia, between national unity and civil war, or between a sovereign, independent Lebanon and a divided Lebanon,” he stressed.
Commenting on the work of the STL that is probing his father's assassination, Hariri went on to say: “We are confident that it will reach a fair verdict, and that the blood of Rafik Hariri and the martyrs of March 14 will not be wasted in the maze of compromises.”
“We waited for ten years, and are ready to wait longer, and the Tribunal will continue its work until the truth appears, and the dream of Rafik Hariri triumphs over the enemies of freedom, progress and moderation,” he added.
Rafik Hariri was assassinated in a massive bombing that targeted his convoy in central Beirut on February 14, 2005. The attack killed 21 other people and wounded nearly 300.
The U.N.-backed STL is trying five Hizbullah members in absentia over their alleged involvement in the murder.
Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has dismissed the court as a U.S.-Israeli scheme and vowed that the accused will never be found.
Y.R.
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