Latest news with #Hezbollah.In
L'Orient-Le Jour
02-05-2025
- Politics
- L'Orient-Le Jour
Sectarian representation in municipal elections remains divisive in key towns
In recent weeks, all eyes have been on the Beirut municipality, where intense political efforts are underway to preserve the Muslim-Christian parity within the municipal council. But sectarian representation is also a major issue in the municipal elections in several other 'mixed' areas. For example, ahead of the first round of voting scheduled for Sunday in Mount Lebanon, sectarian representation appears to be a real point of contention in some predominantly Shiite villages in the Jbeil district, amid growing political polarization around contrast, Lebanese-style customs and amicable agreements, linked with political and partisan efforts, have helped defuse this issue in several other towns. 'The Shiite duo [Hezbollah and Amal] are showing political foolishness. Instead of reaching electoral agreements with their partners,...
Arab News
14-02-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Lebanon marks 20 years since Rafic Hariri killed as power balance shifts
BEIRUT: Lebanon on Friday marked 20 years since former prime minister Rafic Hariri's assassination, with seismic political changes underway that have weakened Hezbollah and its backers and could herald a comeback for Hariri's son Hariri, a towering political figure who oversaw Lebanon's reconstruction era after the 1975-1990 civil war, had recently resigned as premier when he was killed on February 14, 2022, a UN-backed court sentenced two Hezbollah members in absentia to life imprisonment for the massive suicide bombing that killed him and 21 others, though the group has refused to hand them son Saad, who served three times as prime minister, is based in the United Arab Emirates but has again returned for the annual time, he is back in a changed commemoration comes days before the deadline for implementing a Hezbollah-Israel ceasefire, which ended more than a year of hostilities that weakened the have mounted for the fragile truce after Beirut rejected Israel's demand to remain in five southern locations after the February 18 Hezbollah still carries weight, with supporters Thursday blocking the airport road after two Iranian planes were barred from landing.A day earlier, Israel's army had accused Iran of sending funds to arm the group through the Beirut Friday morning, a few thousand Hariri supporters carrying Lebanese flags gathered near his father's burial site in downtown Beirut.'For the first time in 20 years, our joy is double: first because the Syrian regime fell... and second because Sheikh Saad is among us,' homemaker Diana Al-Masri, 52, told AFP.A source close to Hariri said he was due to give a speech addressing developments 'in Lebanon and the region,' though he may not resume political activities right away.'His supporters are calling on him to return to political life,' said the source, requesting anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the early 2022, Hariri was the main Sunni Muslim leader in a country where political power is shared along sectarian enjoying strong support from Saudi Arabia, Hariri's relationship with the regional heavyweight deteriorated because of his conciliatory attitude toward 2017, Hariri resigned as premier in a shock address from Riyadh, citing Iran's 'grip' on Lebanon through Hezbollah and prompting accusations he was being held against his President Emmanuel Macron had to intervene to secure his return to Lebanon, where Hariri rescinded his resigned again as prime minister after nationwide protests in 2019 demanding the wholesale overhaul of Lebanon's political a tearful 2022 announcement, he said he had suspended his political activities and those of his party, citing 'Iranian influence' among other source told AFP that all these reasons had now 'vanished.'For decades, Hezbollah was Lebanon's dominant political force, but its arsenal and leadership were decimated during its war with Israel, while Syrian ally Bashar Assad's ouster cut the group's vital arms supply lines.'New chance'In January, former army chief Joseph Aoun was elected president after a more than two-year was widely seen as the United States and Saudi Arabia's preferred month, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, who had been presiding judge at the International Criminal Court, formed a government. On Friday, Salam visited Rafic Hariri's tomb to pay his respects.'Lebanon has been given a new chance as Iranian influence is declining and the international community has returned,' the source has recently retaken an interest in Lebanese politics after distancing itself for years over Hezbollah's influence.'Saudi Arabia seeks a strong, organized Sunni leadership,' said Imad Salamey, head of the International and Political Studies Department at the Lebanese American University.'If (Saad) Hariri can present himself as that figure, his return would serve both his interests and those of the kingdom.'His father's assassination anniversary 'will serve as an opportunity to assess his ability to mobilize support and reassert his leadership within the Sunni community,' Salamey was thrust into the political limelight following his father's murder, widely attributed to Damascus and Hezbollah at the time, which triggered massive protests that drove Syrian troops out of Lebanon after 29 years of Hariri was a billionaire and the architect of Lebanon's reconstruction era after the 1975-1990 civil meanwhile, is desperate to prove it has not lost ground to political the airport protests, authorities said they were working to bring back Lebanese passengers stranded in Iran using two Middle East Airlines on Friday a source from the national carrier told AFP that Tehran had denied them permission to land in a tit-for-tat has repeatedly accused Hezbollah of using Lebanon's only airport to transfer weapons from Iran, claims the group and Lebanese officials have denied, with the army reinforcing security measures there in past months.
