Beirut, March 08: Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri pledged Monday to thwart attempts to carry out coups and assassinations, saying that followers of the March 14 coalition would gather in Downtown Beirut Sunday to show support for the Lebanese people’s will and the state.
Addressing delegations from the Future Movement’s education sector at his residence in Downtown Beirut, Hariri said that the March 14 coalition decided this year to commemorate the sixth anniversary of the movement’s founding at a mass rally Sunday, March 13, instead of March 14, because “we don’t want to impede the interests of the country or the people.”
“But we will thwart coups, assassinations, suppression, injustice, lies and betrayal,” he said. “We will gather on March 13 to say: ‘Yes to Lebanon first, yes to the will of the people and yes to the state.’”
“Those who will gather in ‘Freedom Square’ on March 13 will not carry arms. They will carry the Lebanese flag and the Lebanese position which is the source of expression of their national will,” Hariri said.
Hariri’s Future Movement and its allies in the March 14 coalition have been mobilizing their supporters for a heavy turnout for next Sunday’s rally at Martyrs Square in Downtown Beirut to mark six years since the movement was launched on March 14, 2005, a month after the assassination of Hariri’s father, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, to defend the country’s freedom, sovereignty and independence and call for a Syrian troop withdrawal.
Sunday’s rally is intended as a show of force as the political confrontation between the March 14 coalition and the Hezbollah-led March 8 alliance worsens, heightening tension ahead of the indictment into Rafik Hariri’s assassination which is expected to be issued by the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon soon.
The STL, which is probing Hariri’s killing, has been at the root of tension between the March 8 and March 14 camps for months, threatening to destabilize the country, especially if some Hezbollah members are implicated in the killing as is widely expected.
Recalling the day the March 14 movement was launched nearly six years ago, Hariri said: “On this historic day, all the Lebanese expressed their national will for independence, freedom, coexistence and sovereignty. That day brought the Special Tribunal for Lebanon to uncover the truth behind the terrorist assassination which targeted martyr [former] Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and all the other martyrs of the march for freedom and independence. We will carry the Lebanese flag with you on March 13 to respond to all attempts to turn the clock back.”
This year’s anniversary comes amid a fierce campaign launched by Hariri and his March 14 allies against Hezbollah’s weapons. The occasion will be dominated by banners against Hezbollah’s weapons. “No to the supremacy of arms,” reads one banner to be raised at the rally. In a fiery speech on Feb. 28, Hariri lashed out at Hezbollah, saying the party’s weapons had become a national problem that was poisoning the political and cultural life in Lebanon and needed a national solution. He also accused Hezbollah of using its arms internally in the past three years to influence political disputes in its favor, culminating with the ouster of his Cabinet.
Hariri returned to Beirut dawn Monday after a few days’ visit to Riyadh, where he held talks with senior Saudi officials on the Lebanese crisis. It was Hariri’s first visit to Saudi Arabia since his Cabinet was brought down on Jan. 12, when ministers of Hezbollah and its March 8 allies resigned over a long-simmering dispute over the STL. The visit also worked to dispel rumors that Hariri had been banned from visiting Saudi Arabia because of political differences with Saudi officials over a solution to crisis over the STL.
Hariri has accused former allies of betrayal and Hezbollah’s arms for what Future MPs called “a coup” that led to Hariri’s ouster and set the stage for former Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s designation to form a new government. Mikati is backed by the Hezbollah-led March 8 alliance.
Meanwhile, U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly again called on Lebanon’s next government to comply with international agreements. Connelly discussed the ongoing political developments in Lebanon with Speaker Nabih Berri. Connelly reiterated the United States’ view that the international community would assess its relationship with the new Cabinet of Lebanon based on the make-up of the next Cabinet, its ministerial statement and the actions it takes with regard to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and Lebanon’s other international obligations, according to a statement released by the U.S. Embassy. She reiterated America’s continuing support for Lebanon’s sovereignty, stability, and prosperity, and called on the next Lebanese government to provide stability and promote justice for the people of Lebanon by honoring its international agreements, the statement added.
U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams also met with Berri with whom he discussed “many issues, both domestic questions, such as the formation of the next government, but also regional problems reflecting the turbulence throughout the Arab world, and particularly the very troubling situation in Libya.”
“The Speaker and I were in full agreement that irrespective of the differences that may exist internally within Lebanon, dialogue remains the only and most important tool for the Lebanese to resolve their problems,” Williams said.
——–Agencies