Saad Hariri makes rare visit to Lebanon for father's memorial.
Photo: EPA
Former PM Hariri bashes Hezbollah on anniversary of father's assassination
Saad Hariri, former Lebanese PM, criticizes Hezbollah's role in Syrian civil war and calls connection between fronts in Syrian Golan Heights and southern Lebanon a 'craze,' during rare visit to Lebanon for memorial of father Rafik's assassination.
Former Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri had sharp words to say against Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah at a memorial marking the 10th anniversary of his father's, former prime minister Rafik Hariri, assassination.
"We are saying to Hezbollah that the connection between the Syrian Golan Heights and southern Lebanon is a craze. Stop inciting fires," said Saad al-Hariri on Saturday, directing his comments at the terror group, based in southern Lebanon.
Saad Hariri.
Saad added: "We do not recognize Hezbollah as having the authority above the state in terms of the right to decide on peace and war or to turn Lebanon into a scene of bloodshed in order to save the Syrian regime and protect Iranian interests."
Saad's father Rafik Hariri was killed, along with 21 others, in a truck bomb on a Beirut seaside road in 2005.
Memorial service for Rafik Hariri in Lebanon. (Photo: Reuters)
Hariri said during the ceremony that he began a dialogue with Hezbollah because it is an Islamic necessity to accommodate ethnic tensions and because it is a national necessity to restore the political process in Lebanon.
"We began a dialogue in order to protect Lebanon - that is more important than us," said Hariri. The former Lebanese prime minister said that he was serious regarding the discussions but heavily criticized Hezbollah's involvement in the war in Syria and in other conflicts in the region.
Anniversary of Rafik Hariri's assassination in Lebanon. (Photo: EPA)
Hariri posed the question: "What interest do young Lebanese have in going to fight in Syria, in Iraq or interfering in the affairs of Bahrain?" Hariri then responded, "Zero interest."
Hariri took part in the memorial honoring his father that took place in Lebanon on Saturday despite the security threat involved surrounding the visit. Hezbollah has been attributed to the murder of his father, and former prime minister, Rafik and Hariri has been living in Saudi Arabia because of the dangers he faces in Lebanon.
Thus, while Hariri's visit was rare, he did not hesitate to use the opportunity to criticize Hezbollah, bashing the group for not turning in the individuals who carried out his father's assassination to the International Court of Law.
Hariri also addressed the events that have shaken the Middle East since his father's murder. "After you, the Syrian president succeeded in breaking Syria on the heads of the Syrians. (Syria's) army and its allies, dealers of the civil war, have slaughtered more than half a million victims."
Over the weekend, Nasrallah's deputy, Naim Qassem, referred to a recent operation that was carried out in southern Syria in order to retrieve villages that had been conquered by rebels in the past and said that the rebels had been defeated and suffered great losses.
"This operation will have great results in that area," said Qassem. While he did not specifically refer to Hezbollah's role in aiding Assad's army, Qassem said: "We hear the media outlets in Israel worry over what is happening in Quneitra, knowing that there is a war against al-Qaeda and the Nusra Front which, in the eyes of the South Lebanese Army, is too close to the border and Israel wants it in order to combat the resistance enterprise and Syria."
Media outlets in Iran reported over the weekend that two Iranian fighters were killed on Thursday in a village close to the city of Daraa in southern Syria, during a fight with Syrian rebels who were labeled "terrorists" by the Iranian news outlets.
The Rai Al-Youm newspaper, published in London, quoted Iranian media outlets which claimed that the two Iranians killed were Iranian Revolutionary Guards; however, there has been no official confirmation by Iran.
According to the report, the bodies of the alleged Iranian soldiers were in the hands of Syrian rebels.
According to a report published by an Arab news outlet affiliated with Hezbollah, Iranian representatives have also been involved in a large-scale operation being carried out by the Syrian army in southern Syria.
The report also said that the commander of the al-Quds force of the Revolutionary Guards, Qasem Soleimani, was reportedly in southern Syria in recent days.
