Tripoli, March 17: Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri said Wednesday that his demand to restrict arms to the state was not a mere slogan, but a plan that he would try to achieve.
“Our project is for the state to be responsible for the arms, the war and peace decision, and the stability and security of the Lebanese people. It is not impossible as some are trying to portray it. It is not a slogan, but a plan which we will try to achieve in the interest of the nation and the future of all the Lebanese,” Hariri told delegations that visited him at the Quality Inn hotel in Tripoli.
Hariri began a three-day visit to the north. He is set to deliver a speech on the final day, Friday.
The Hariri-led March 14 coalition’s escalatory rhetoric against Hezbollah’s arms culminated in a massive rally Sunday that saw hundreds of thousands of supporters flock to Beirut’s Martyrs Square and raise the slogan of “No to the Supremacy of [Hezbollah’s] arms.”
Hariri and his allies accuse Hezbollah of using its arms to manipulate politics in its favor.
Hariri said that he had done his best while prime minister to resolve Lebanon’s ongoing political crisis.
“I worked according to my conscience and national duty to resolve the political crisis, so I visited Syria and Iran and met with all political leaders, without exception, I have done everything for this purpose, and some of you even wondered about the purpose of these concessions,” he said.
But Hariri said that he felt an attempt to eliminate him politically.
“Indeed, I realized that I was losing on the political and popular levels and endured the unbearable, but when it came to the point of trying to eliminate me politically, I will not allow anyone to do so,” Hariri added.
The Hezbollah-led March 8 coalition brought down Hariri’s national unity government in January after a long simmering dispute over the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and secured the votes to nominate former Prime Minister Najib Mikati to the premiership.
Hariri said that he could have remained in power and let down his allies as some hoped, but that he did not abandon people loyal to him. He promised to work to preserve the dignity,sovereignty and independence of Lebanon. “This issue for me is non-negotiable.”
“I am here to thank the people of Tripoli and the north and to tell you that my presence here with you is natural, because I am among my family and my people and the solid ground of the March 14 forces. You represent one of the main lines of defense of the state, the constitution and the democratic system,” Hariri said.
Tripoli MPs Samir Jisr, Mohammad Kabbara, Badr Wannous, Minieh MP Qassem Abdel-Aziz and former MP Mustafa Alloush visited Hariri. The caretaker prime minister also received Sheikh Malek Shaar, the Mufti of Tripoli and the north, and members of the municipal councils of Tripoli, Mina, Qalamoun and Baddawi.
He also visited the area of Qalamoun where he recieved a tumultuous reception from residents.
——–Agencies