Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri. (Credit: NNA)
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990), which falls on April 13, former Prime Minister Saad Hariri in a statement called on the country to "overcome the militia mindset to move towards establishing a state that includes everyone, provided that its Constitution is respected and there is a commitment to its laws, its institutions, and its sovereignty."
"The best lesson to be learned from the pains of the war is the need to move away from private and communal interests to aim for a fair and capable state," he stated.
On Friday, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam called for making the 50th anniversary of the Lebanese Civil War "a turning point, not just a moment of commemoration," during the opening of an exhibition on this conflict, organized Friday at the National Library in Beirut.
On April 13, 1975, a bus carrying Palestinians was fired upon by members of the Lebanese Phalanges, after a Christian militiaman was killed and another wounded in front of a church in Ain al-Remmaneh, in the eastern suburbs of Beirut. The 27 passengers on the bus were killed. This incident is considered the trigger for the civil war.