Secretary-General of the Future Movement Ahmad Hariri, who concluded his tour in North Lebanon on Tuesday, stated that the speech by former Prime Minister Saad Hariri during the commemoration of the twentieth anniversary of Rafic Hariri's assassination "will be a foundational speech."

During a meeting with Future members in Koura, Zgharta and Batroun, Ahmad Hariri discussed the ongoing changes in Lebanon and the region, adding that Saad Hariri "will address them in his Feb. 14 speech."

"For us, it will be a foundational speech for the next phase, after Feb. 14," he added, according to remarks reported by the state-run National News Agency (NNA).

On Tuesday evening, the NNA reported that Saad Hariri had arrived to Beirut. Saad Hariri, son of Rafic Hariri, lives outside Lebanon and suspended all political activity in 2022. He is expected in Lebanon for the commemoration of the 20 years since his father's assassination, which occurred with a car bombing in Beirut on Feb. 14, 2005. This ceremony is set to take place Friday at the Mohammed Al-Amin Mosque in downtown Beirut.

A few days before Feb. 14, banners have been hung throughout Saida, a Hariri stronghold, according to L'Orient Today's correspondent in the south.

"We are returning and the 'Future' is ahead of us," read one of the banners, alluding to the Future Movement founded by Rafic Hariri.

The coordinator of the Future Movement in Saida and south Lebanon, Mazen Hashisho, called for "broad participation" in the commemoration on Feb. 14. He said that Saida "is the birthplace of the founder of this movement."

"This year, the commemoration will be different from other years, given the changes in the region, the latest being the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria, and Saad Hariri's speech will also be different from previous years," he stated.

Hashisho specified the meeting points in Saida, Zahrani and Sour for those who wish to travel to Martyrs' Square in Beirut on Friday.

Hariri's assassination marked a turning point in Lebanon, with a large segment of the population shifting to the anti-Syrian camp, given the suspicions weighing on the Syrian regime at that time. The latter withdrew its troops from Lebanon shortly thereafter, in April 2005, after 15 years of control over the country. A special international tribunal, created to resolve the case, concluded several years later to the guilt of a Hezbollah member, an ally of Syria in Lebanon.