BEIRUT — Former Minister Khaled Kabbani announced the formation of an electoral list in the Beirut II electoral district, named “Beirut Confronts,” which he will head, from the Riviera Hotel Friday afternoon in the presence of Sunni Leader Fouad Siniora and a crowd of Beiruti families, the state-run National News Agency reported.
Here’s what we know:
• “We hope that they will support our list to walk together in the path of salvation and the advancement of Beirut and Lebanon. The Beirut Confronts list is emanating from the depth of Beirut's families and composed of the finest elite women and men, and they are: Khaled Qabbani, Bashir Itani, Majed Demashkieh, Zeina al-Masry, Lina Omar al-Tanir, Abdul Rahman al-Mubasher, Ahmed Ayyash, Faisal Afif al-Sayegh, Michel Falah, and George Haddad,” Kabbani said during a speech.
• Kabbani said that the Lebanese state is “subjugated in favor of sectarian and militia parties, especially with the emergence of militia forces that are armed with illegal weapons and linked to foreign projects that bartered the interests of the state.”
• He continued that “Beirut is keen on the great national, reconstruction and humanitarian heritage of the martyred Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, and rejects the continuous attempts to distort this legacy and slander it, and it will remain honest and preserve this legacy. It will also continue to confront and demand the extradition of the killers of the martyred Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, and demands the implementation of justice.”