Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri. (Credit: AFP/Ludovic Marin)
BEIRUT — Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who has withdrawn from political life and settled in the United Arab Emirates, returned to Beirut on Sunday morning on the eve of the commemoration of the assassination of his father on Feb. 14, 2005.
The Future Movement leader is expected to pay his respects Monday at the grave of his father Rafik Hariri in Downtown Beirut. He is also expected to hold a meeting with the Future Movement parliamentary group.
Meanwhile, on Sunday morning, Lebanese Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdellatif Derian spoke at the grave of Rafik Hariri and members of his entourage who were killed in the 2005 car bomb attack.
“Lebanon, which today is plunged into the abyss of moral corruption, political failure and economic and financial collapse, remembers with respect all the rescue initiatives launched by Rafik Hariri, who revived Lebanon and Beirut in particular," the Derian said.
Saad Hariri, propelled onto the political scene after the assassination of his father, announced on Jan. 24 that he was suspending his role in Lebanese political life, referring in particular to "Iranian influence" on the country, "confusion over the international scene" and "internal divisions." The country's main Sunni leader and the Future Movement he leads will therefore not take part in the legislative elections.
After Saad Hariri's announcement, his elder brother Bahaa, who founded another political party, announced that he was going "to embark on the battle to regain Lebanon and its sovereignty," without, however, clearly announcing his desire to to stand for elections.
Hariri's withdrawal from political life and the announcement that neither he nor his party would take part in the legislative elections scheduled for May 15 have created a vacuum within the Sunni community and accentuated the destabilization of the political scene, particularly among the Future Movement's allies, such as the Progressive Socialist Party of the Druze leader Walid Joumblatt and the Shiite movement Amal, while Hezbollah seeks anchor points in the Sunni community.
Rafik Hariri was killed along with 21 others in a massive truck bomb explosion in Beirut on Feb. 14, 2005. His assassination sparked the Cedar Revolution, a grassroots movement that forced Syria to withdraw all of its troops from Lebanon in April the same year. The Special Tribunal for Lebanon, set up by the United Nations to judge those responsible for this attack, condemned in absentia Salim Ayyash, a suspected member of Hezbollah.