Latest news with #RafikHariri
Asharq Al-Awsat
5 days ago
- Politics
- Asharq Al-Awsat
End of Era as Beirut Renames Assad Avenue After Late Legend Ziad Rahbani
Lebanon has decided to rebaptize a thoroughfare named after former Syrian president Hafez al-Assad in favor of late Lebanese musician and playwright Ziad Rahbani, a move many welcomed on Wednesday. The decision marks the end of an era and a rupture with the authoritarian rule of former Syrian leaders Hafez al-Assad and his son Bashar -- close allies of Lebanon's Hezbollah group -- who from Damascus held Lebanon in a stranglehold for almost three decades. Opposition forces ousted Bashar al-Assad in December, ending five decades of one-family rule, further weakening Hezbollah after a war with Israel and helping to change the balance of power in Lebanon. "Hafez al-Assad into the dustbin of history, Ziad Rahbani is the name of the airport road forever!" independent lawmaker Mark Daou who opposes Hezbollah wrote on X. The government on Tuesday announced the renaming of the avenue, which runs to the international airport through south Beirut, where Hezbollah enjoys strong support. Lebanese actor Ziad Itani welcomed the move, telling AFP that the former Syrian leader was associated with "dark periods in Lebanese history, marked by massacres, abuses and assassinations". The Syrian army entered Lebanon in 1976 as part of an Arab force that was supposed to put an end to the country's civil war which began a year earlier. Troops only withdrew in 2005 under enormous pressure after the assassination of Lebanese ex-Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, which was widely blamed on Syria and Hezbollah. The Lebanese army dismantled a number of monuments paying homage to the Assad family following the pullout. The government announced the street's name change as it said it had tasked the army with developing a plan to disarm Hezbollah by the end of the year, an unprecedented step since civil war factions gave up their weapons decades ago. The road's renaming "is the decision that made me the happiest", said Hassan Roumani near the avenue. "Each time I passed along the Assad road, I felt like Hafez al-Assad and the Syrian army were still in Lebanon. Now psychologically I feel relieved -- that period is over, and for the best," he told AFP. Not all welcomed the renaming however, particularly Hezbollah supporters. Faysal Abdelsater, an analyst close to the Iran-backed group, said the move was "the result of political malice" and urged the local council to reject it. Rahbani, son of iconic singer Fairuz, died last month aged 69 after a decades-long career that revolutionized the country's artistic scene.
L'Orient-Le Jour
04-08-2025
- Politics
- L'Orient-Le Jour
'We are continuing Rafik Hariri's work,' says Baha' Hariri from Dar al-Fatwa
Grand Mufti Abdel-Latif Derian received on Monday at Dar al-Fatwa, Baha' Hariri, son of assassinated former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The latter announced his "permanent return" to Lebanon in September, declaring a renewed ambition to establish himself as a political figure within the Sunni community. After the meeting, Hariri praised the role of the Sunni religious institution, which he described as a "national reference whose role is central in the country." He expressed his commitment to "strengthening this leadership role that Dar al-Fatwa has always embodied throughout its history, its wisdom and its position in the Lebanese equation." Hariri said he would meet with several "political figures, because our project is above all national." "There is no question of abandoning the path of the national project," he added. "That is why we are here, to continue Rafik Hariri's work and project." Despite his previous setbacks, notably in the 2022 parliamentary elections and an unsuccessful comeback attempt in 2024, Hariri, who had settled in Monaco, is betting on the void left by his brother Saad within the Sunni community to reposition himself. However, his influence remains marginal in the absence of clear support from Saudi Arabia, which his father and brother had.
Ya Libnan
18-07-2025
- Politics
- Ya Libnan
Disarm Hezbollah now, before it destroys Lebanon completely
File : Masked Hezbollah fighters as they march through a suburb of Beirut in May 2008 , when the party occupied a large section of Beirut but unsuccessfully tried to occupy The Druze and Christian stronghold of Mount Lebanon. The majority of the Lebanese now consider the heavily armed and Iran backed militia as the biggest threat to Lebanon's sovereignty Hezbollah continues to claim that its vast arsenal exists solely to defend Lebanon from Israeli aggression and to support resistance. But nearly two decades of evidence tell a different story—one of regional entanglements, internal repression, and national devastation. Today, Hezbollah's arms are less a shield and more a sword hanging over Lebanon's sovereignty, its people, and its very survival. Twice, Hezbollah's weapons failed in their core mission of defending Lebanon. In the 2006 war with Israel, the group's so-called 'divine victory' resulted in massive destruction across the south and Beirut's southern suburbs. Instead of repelling Israel, it brought ruin to Lebanese towns. More recently, its last confrontation with Israel ended in the loss of several strategic hills in southern Lebanon—hardly the sign of a victorious resistance. Rather than defending the homeland, Hezbollah has repeatedly turned its guns inward. After the 2006 war, it occupied downtown Beirut—an area rebuilt over 12 years by the late Prime Minister Rafik Hariri—paralyzing Lebanon's economic and political life. Then, in May 2008, it launched an armed assault on West Beirut and attempted, unsuccessfully, to overrun the Druze and Christian strongholds of Mount Lebanon. These were not acts of national defense, but internal intimidation and political blackmail. The group's violence has not stopped at the battlefield. In the wake of Syria's withdrawal from Lebanon in 2005, a wave of political assassinations began, targeting those who opposed Syria's and Hezbollah's domination. Among the most prominent was the assassination of Rafik Hariri himself. Journalists, lawmakers, and security officials who dared speak out met similar fates. The message was clear: dissent would be punished by death. Even more devastating was Hezbollah's role in the 2020 Beirut Port explosion. In 2013, the group facilitated the illegal storage of 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate—reportedly to aid the Assad regime's barrel bomb campaign after Syria surrendered its chemical weapons to the OPCW. When that stockpile ignited, it wiped out entire neighborhoods, killed over 220 people, wounded more than 6,000, and left 300,000 homeless. This was not collateral damage. This was criminal negligence rooted in Hezbollah's obsession with weapons and war. Hezbollah's arms are not just a danger to the Lebanese people—they now leave Lebanon dangerously isolated. To the south, Israel openly targets Hezbollah operatives. To the east, even Syria—once an ally—is increasingly wary, as Hezbollah's unchecked actions jeopardize Assad's own fragile grip on power. Lebanon now finds itself surrounded by neighbors that view Hezbollah as an enemy, not a partner. And it is Lebanon that pays the price. Meanwhile, Hezbollah's own Shiite base has suffered the most. In every war, it is their homes that are destroyed, their families displaced, and their towns left in rubble. And yet, no country in the world is willing to help rebuild as long as Hezbollah remains armed and unaccountable. Their suffering has become the currency Hezbollah uses to justify its next confrontation. Let us be clear: Hezbollah's weapons have not liberated a single inch of Palestine. Instead, they have brought destruction to Lebanon. They have not defended the nation—they have dismantled it. Their continued existence violates both UN Resolution 1559 , which calls for the disbandment of all militias in Lebanon, and the Taif Agreement , which mandates one army under one state. It is time for President Joseph Aoun—and all Lebanese leaders—to show courage. The Lebanese Army must be empowered to take control of all weapons on Lebanese soil. Sovereignty cannot coexist with a private army loyal to a foreign power. Lebanon must no longer be held hostage to Hezbollah's decisions, wars, and weapons. This is not a sectarian demand. This is a national survival imperative. Hezbollah's arms have become a burden not just for Lebanon—but for Hezbollah itself. The choice is no longer between war and peace. The choice is between a free, sovereign Lebanon—and no Lebanon at all. Mr Aoun. The time to act is now.
Sydney Morning Herald
17-06-2025
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
Here's the smart way for Trump to end the Israel-Iran war
Behind the strikes and counterstrikes in the current Israel-Iran war stands the clash of two strategic doctrines, one animating Iran and the other animating Israel, that are both deeply flawed. President Donald Trump has a chance to correct both of them and to create the best opportunity for stabilising the Middle East in decades — if he is up to it. Iran's flawed strategic doctrine, which was also practised by its proxy, Hezbollah, to equally bad result, is a doctrine I call trying to out-crazy an adversary. Iran and Hezbollah are always ready to go all the way, thinking that whatever their opponents might do in response, Hezbollah or Iran will always outdo them with a more extreme measure. You name it – assassinate the prime minister of Lebanon, Rafik Hariri; blow up the US embassy in Beirut; help Bashar Assad murder thousands of his own people to stay in power – the imprints of Iran and its Hezbollah proxy are behind them all, together or separately. They are telling the world in effect: 'No one will out-crazy us, so beware if you get in a fight with us, you will lose. Because we go all the way — and you moderates just go away.' That Iranian doctrine did help Hezbollah drive Israel out of southern Lebanon. But where it fell short was Iran and Hezbollah thinking they could drive Israelis out of their biblical homeland. Iran and Hezbollah are delusional in this regard – Hamas too. They keep referring to the Jewish state as a foreign colonial enterprise, with no indigenous connection to the land, and therefore they assume the Jews will eventually meet the same fate as the Belgians in the Belgian Congo. That is, under enough pressure they will eventually go back to their own version of Belgium. But the Israeli Jews have no Belgium. They are as indigenous to their biblical homeland as the Palestinians, no matter what 'anticolonial' nonsense they teach at elite universities. Therefore, you will never out-crazy the Israeli Jews. If push comes to shove, they will out-crazy you. Former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, both thought that Israel would never try to kill them personally, that Israel was, as Nasrallah liked to say, a 'spider web' that would just unravel one day under pressure. He paid with his life with that miscalculation last year, and the supreme leader probably would have as well if Trump had not intervened, reportedly, last week to stop Israel from killing him. These Israeli Jews will not be out-crazied. That is how they still have a state in a very tough neighbourhood. That said, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his band of extremists running the Israeli government today are in the grip of their own strategic fallacy, which I call the doctrine of 'once and for all'. I wish I had a dollar for every time, after some murderous attack on Israeli Jews by Palestinians or Iranian proxies, the Israeli government declared that it was going to solve the problem with force 'once and for all'.
The Age
17-06-2025
- Politics
- The Age
Here's the smart way for Trump to end the Israel-Iran war
Behind the strikes and counterstrikes in the current Israel-Iran war stands the clash of two strategic doctrines, one animating Iran and the other animating Israel, that are both deeply flawed. President Donald Trump has a chance to correct both of them and to create the best opportunity for stabilising the Middle East in decades — if he is up to it. Iran's flawed strategic doctrine, which was also practised by its proxy, Hezbollah, to equally bad result, is a doctrine I call trying to out-crazy an adversary. Iran and Hezbollah are always ready to go all the way, thinking that whatever their opponents might do in response, Hezbollah or Iran will always outdo them with a more extreme measure. You name it – assassinate the prime minister of Lebanon, Rafik Hariri; blow up the US embassy in Beirut; help Bashar Assad murder thousands of his own people to stay in power – the imprints of Iran and its Hezbollah proxy are behind them all, together or separately. They are telling the world in effect: 'No one will out-crazy us, so beware if you get in a fight with us, you will lose. Because we go all the way — and you moderates just go away.' That Iranian doctrine did help Hezbollah drive Israel out of southern Lebanon. But where it fell short was Iran and Hezbollah thinking they could drive Israelis out of their biblical homeland. Iran and Hezbollah are delusional in this regard – Hamas too. They keep referring to the Jewish state as a foreign colonial enterprise, with no indigenous connection to the land, and therefore they assume the Jews will eventually meet the same fate as the Belgians in the Belgian Congo. That is, under enough pressure they will eventually go back to their own version of Belgium. But the Israeli Jews have no Belgium. They are as indigenous to their biblical homeland as the Palestinians, no matter what 'anticolonial' nonsense they teach at elite universities. Therefore, you will never out-crazy the Israeli Jews. If push comes to shove, they will out-crazy you. Former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, both thought that Israel would never try to kill them personally, that Israel was, as Nasrallah liked to say, a 'spider web' that would just unravel one day under pressure. He paid with his life with that miscalculation last year, and the supreme leader probably would have as well if Trump had not intervened, reportedly, last week to stop Israel from killing him. These Israeli Jews will not be out-crazied. That is how they still have a state in a very tough neighbourhood. That said, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his band of extremists running the Israeli government today are in the grip of their own strategic fallacy, which I call the doctrine of 'once and for all'. I wish I had a dollar for every time, after some murderous attack on Israeli Jews by Palestinians or Iranian proxies, the Israeli government declared that it was going to solve the problem with force 'once and for all'.
