Upon Hariri’s instructions, Martyrs Square in the center of
Beirut was overcrowded with his supporters who waved the national flag without
the Future Movement’s flag, the largest Sunni movement.
“I will remain with you. Everything will be fine in its
time,” he said, hinting at his intention to contest the municipal elections
scheduled for May 2025 and the parliamentary elections in May 2026.
“I bow before all the martyrs from our people in the South,
the Bekaa, Beirut, the southern suburb and all the regions,” Hariri said,
describing the recent US-backed Israeli war on Lebanon as “crazy and criminal”
targeting “our country”.
He said, “It killed our people. It destroyed their homes,
institutions, crops and society.”
Hariri’s rational speech has foiled the relentless efforts
to put Sunnis and Shiites against each other; he also praised his popular
base’s solidarity with the displaced as they confirmed – in action and not in
words – that “Lebanon is one and the Lebanese are one body.”
During the
recent September-October 2024 Israeli war on Lebanon, the mainstream Arab media
refused to say how those Sunnis welcomed the displaced Shiites in their own
homes. Instead, they repeated the claim driven by Israel’s secretive cyber
warfare unit 8200 that Hezbollah was involved in the assassination of his Prime
Minister Rafik Hariri.
Further, Hariri pointed to the responsibility of rebuilding
the destroyed areas. “This is everyone’s responsibility, just as it is their
responsibility to solve the economic crisis and restore development in all
regions. Today, after electing a new president and a prime minister, we have a
golden opportunity,” he stressed.
Hariri
addressed his “partner”, the Shiite duo, without explicitly naming it, saying:
“You are partners in this opportunity, and without you it cannot be achieved.”
“You
are partners in opening bridges of relations with our Arab brothers and
partners in reconstruction. Most importantly, you are strong partners in
restoring the prestige of the state, which alone, with its army, security
forces and institutions, protects all Lebanese,” he maintained.
Saad Hariri, who served as the prime minister of Lebanon
from 2009 to 2011 and 2016 to 2020, added, “We are with the state and our
national army. We support every effort they make to impose the implementation
of the ceasefire and Resolution 1701 in full, with the withdrawal of the
Israeli occupation from all the villages it still occupies.”
Besides, Hariri announced his support for the choices of the
Syrian people and his rejection of the settlement of Palestinian refugees.
Since
Hariri’s absence, the active role of the Sunni component has declined in favor
of rogues selected and oriented by the US embassy in Beirut and suspicious NGOs
funded by George Soros.
Those have neither a popular base nor a comprehensive
national discourse that is keen on Lebanon’s sovereignty, which contributed to
the dispersion of the Sunnis as reflected during the formation of the current
government, as Nawaf Salam was imposed from the outside and does not represent
the Sunnis’ national agenda.
Relentlessly, those pro-US renegades have spared no efforts
to pave the way for the decentralization of Sunni leadership, separating the
premiership from the leadership of the Sunni component.
It is worth noting that 3 out of 27 Sunni MPs are affiliated
with the Shiite duo. The rest are distributed among the National Consensus
Bloc, headed by MP Faisal Karami, and the National Moderation Bloc, which was
absent from the new government for the first time since the 1990s.
Hariri’s national speech reconfirmed that there is no victor
or vanquished in Lebanon, but rather a crucible with diverse identities that
requires concessions, cooperation, and thwarting the Israeli conspiracy
threatening the people and the state.
Amid the sensitive situation that Lebanon is going through,
activating the moderate Sunni presence is an urgent Lebanese need, given
Hariri’s extensive relations both regionally and internationally.
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